Marauder Memories
by flawsmadebeautiful
Summary: The Marauders through their seven years at Hogwarts. She was calm and level-headed. He was like a storm, causing havoc wherever he could. He kept her from being too sweet, kind and gentle. She kept him from flying off the handlebars on occasion. But more than that, she loved him. Jily story.
1. Cherish the Memories

**Marauder Memories:**

**Chapter One: Cherish the Memories**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

I do own the character Cherish Meadowes and any other characters not already made by J.K. Rowling.

Note: This chapter occurs a few months before the Marauders ever start Hogwarts.

* * *

-l-flawsmadebeautiful-l-

James was soaring, the wind rushing through his already messy hair, and he angled his head down slightly so there wouldn't be a gleam from the sun to blind him. He could see the Potter Mansion below, with the sparkling blue pool, the colored tiles around it, and the large stained glass windows that continued to change their frames. He looked around then for his friend. He had to dip down much further, and feeling the need to show off, whipped past her as fast as his broom would allow.

"James Potter!" she shrieked, trying to keep her own broom in control. "You prat!"

He grinned at her look of puzzlement as she tried to guide the broom to do what she wanted.

" 'Cmon," he told her trying to sound cheerful though he was concerned she was about to fly off the handle if she didn't hold it correctly. "Cher, you're thinking too much. Just fly."

She looked up at him, her dazzling green eyes glowing. Suddenly, she turned to face him and flew straight for him, her bronze hair whipping behind her as she passed him narrowly, grinning. "You're finally eleven. I can't wait to go to Hogwarts together!"

James grinned back, adjusting his glasses. "You gotta be in Gryffindor, Cher."

She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "Yeah right! I'm not nearly brave enough," she sounded half-envious of him.

He only laughed. "Seriously, Gryffindor is perfect for you."

She stopped her circles, and turned to look at him over her shoulder. Then she turned to face him, tilting her head to one side curiously. "How so?"

Feeling somewhat awkward, he went into a sharp dive and came up behind her, and shrugged before answering. "I dunno." When she raised her eyebrows he continued. "I s'pose I figured you'd want to be in Gryffindor with me. Then we'd be classmates and we'd still be best friends."

She tossed her blonde hair out of her eyes, and blinked at him. "We are best friends," she said as though it were obvious.

"I know," he mumbled. "But I'm going to miss you if you go into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff."

She looked at him, "Why not Slytherin?"

He shook his head fondly at her, "You'd never be in Slytherin. You're too good."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Potter," she told him, clearly only teasing. "I'll race you home."

"You're on!" he went into a dive, leaned down close to his broom and behind him he could hear Cherish shouting at him.

"That wasn't fair! I never said go...James Potter!"

In that moment, everything was perfect. He was blissfully happy, oblivious to all the problems of the world. He felt like as long as he had his best friend, everything was perfect.

-l-l-

Now they sat across from one another, drinking pumpkin juice and nibbling on some muffins the house elf had made earlier.

"I bet we could make the Quidditch team," he told her wistfully.

She looked at him over her goblet of pumpkin juice and only raised her eyebrows skeptically at him before taking a sip. "You saw me out there, I'm not good enough on a broom." she swirled her goblet around and then added, "Not like you."

"No, no, not this year. But next year you'll be better. I saw you out there, that was amazing for your first time on a broom. You're a natural. Really," he added when she looked unconvinced. "We'll do it. Both of us."

"Promise?" she asked, looking hesitantly at him.

"For you?" he asked, smiling. "Anything."

She laughed at him, and then nodded. "We'll do it. We can make the Quidditch team together."

"Although Cher," he said in a jokingly serious way, "I'll disown you if you make Slytherin."

She looked at him with those wide green eyes. "You will not," she protested uncertainly.

He laughed his eyes sparkling with amusement. "No, but Slytherin is the worst. Only Dark wizards go there."

Her face slowly turned solemn and she answered, "I've heard my mum and dad talk about them. Say that they're the ones who are doing this to the world. The Slytherins are-and that they're too far up in Dark Arts and get in too deep." Then she rolled her eyes and grew more cheerful. "My mum was in Ravenclaw, says everyone there's really clever. My dad was in Hufflepuff, they're real loyal and hardworking."

James gave a half shrug. "That's not so bad." He picked up his own goblet and drained it. "Mum said she'd take us shopping now that I've gotten my list," James said, pulling open his list from where he'd tossed it a few days ago.

She nodded happily, "My mum will probably say yes, 'cmon," she raced down the hallway, her hair flying. With a yelp of objection, James chased after her, determined not to be beaten by her. He caught up with her as she rounded the corner into the sitting room, and there both of their mothers were chatting and drinking tea together.

His mother paused, her warm hazel eyes that matched his widened slightly and raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Mum, you said you'd take us shopping!" James told her, looking at her expectantly.

"What do you think?" his mother asked, turning to her companion.

The blonde woman nodded. "It's fine with me."

"Yes!" even as James shouted, he could hear Cherish cheering beside him. Then they both ran to grab their lists.

"Be careful," his mother warned as he was the first to step into the emerald flames.

He took a pinch of the glittering powder and nodded, barely refraining from rolling his eyes, "Yes, mother."

He took one last glance at Cherish and his mother and threw the powder into the flames, "Diagon Alley," he spoke clearly and was whisked away in seconds.

His mother and Cherish followed quickly, and his mother brushed the soot off of him as he cleared his glasses from the sparkling powder.

"What's first on your lists?" she asked, looking around Diagon Alley.

James glanced at his list. "New robes, hat, gloves, and a winter cloak, books, potions ingredients and telescope," he listed off.

"We'll start at Madam Malkin's to get your robes," she said even as Cherish and James began weaving through the crowd towards the tiny shop.

Sighing, she hurried after them.

James stood on one stood, while Cherish stood on the other. She turned to grin at him.

"Hogwarts?" the witch asked them as she began to take their measurements.

James and Cherish nodded. "Alright dear, hold still."

He held as still as possible as she pinned the black cloth to the right length. Cherish was not one to stand calmly and began to voice her thoughts on the shop across from them, which was filled with animals of all sorts.

"James, look at that owl!" she pointed to a snowy owl, "I'd sure like to have an owl like that. She's gorgeous."

His mother hummed softly and found a nice set of blue dress robes she liked and was holding them patiently while she waited.

"James, do you like rats?" Cherish asked, even though she knew the answer.

"They're all right, but of course there's always the chance an owl would eat 'em," James pointed out.

They purchased the robes, and his mother led them to the apothecary, the only place to get potions ingredients without going down Knockturn Alley.

"Look, Cher," James pointed to shining unicorn horns and a tie of unicorn hairs.

She wrinkled her nose and sniffed in a disapproving way. "Hm, I don't like potions," she declared after a moment.

James laughed at her expression. "Neither do I," he agreed easily.

His mother carried their cauldrons, half full with the robes and packaged potions ingredients. "James, how about you and Cherish go get yourselves some ice cream? I'll run up to the bookstore and get your books. Meet me in an hour at Ollivander's, okay?"

James and Cherish both nodded, excited to be let off on their own. His mother handed them each a gold galleon and taking his list, bustled away up the busy street toward the bookstore.

James looked at Cherish and they both made a race of it to get to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour first. James ordered a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of peanut butter, and was happily slurping the mixture. Cherish ordered strawberry and lemon, a rather odd combination that James had tried years earlier and found rather good.

As they ate their ice creams, James led the way down the street. They paused to look in Quality Quidditch Supplies, and James paused at a jokeshop to take a look.

At Ollivander's, James paused at the door. His mother was already there, talking to Mr. Ollivander. James was very excited to get his own wand, sure he'd borrowed his mother's more than once but his own want would recognize him much better.

Mr. Ollivander greeted him with a odd look. "Ah, Mr. Potter I presume," and then he looked at Cherish. "And this young lady would be?"

"Miss Meadowes," his mother answered before James could respond.

"I see," he pulled out a tape measure. "Which is your wand arm?"

James raised his right arm and the tape measure began to measure the length of his arm, wrist to elbow and elbow to fingertips.

Mr. Ollivander wandered through the shelves, picking up a few now and then, and muttering to himself.

"Try this," he had returned, and pulled out a light tan colored wand. "Maple and dragonheartstring, ten inches."

James waved it, and found it snatched back almost instantly.

"No, try this one. Yew and unicorn hair, eleven inches," James had barely lifted it when Mr. Ollivander took it back.

"No, no, ebony and phoenix feather." He waved it and nothing happened.

"No, no," Mr. Ollivander seemed quite pleased. "Don't worry. We'll find the match here somewhere," he gestured to the shelves of boxes.

Again and again he tried wands, and Cherish did as well.

Then, one of the ones Cherish was trying worked. "Ooh, James, look!" she squealed, her eyes bright. She brought the wand down, green sparks flying from the end.

"Very good Miss Meadowes," Mr. Ollivander paused in his search to pick up the wand she'd gotten. "Walnut and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches," he told her.

Annoyed, James gave the next wand he tried a sharp flick toward the counter. There was the tinkling of shattering glass, and something on the countertop exploded with the force of a loud wizard cracker, and James ducked in fear of something hitting him in the head.

"What was that?" his mother asked, and he jumped. He'd forgotten she was there.

She took the wand and set it on the counter, repairing the candle and candleholder he'd destroyed.

"Mahogany, unicorn hair, eleven inches," he noted, and as James waved it, he brought it swishing down leaving a trail of gold and red sparks.

"Pliable, good for transfiguration," the wandmaker commented.

James walked out, uncertain if he liked Mr. Ollivander, though he did like his new wand.

* * *

-l-September 1st-l-

James shoved his trunk into the compartment, still rubbing his cheek where his mother had kissed him, ignoring his objection of "Mum! Get a grip, geroff me!"

He managed to store his trunk with great difficulty and then plopped down in a seat. "Hey, I'm James," he held his hand out in greeting.

"Sirius," answered the other boy. He had short, wavy hair and unmistakable grey eyes.

"Who's she?" he asked, jerking his head to a young girl in the corner. She had flaming red hair and her green eyes were red from crying. She sniffed and shot him a fierce look, even though her tears.

Sirius shrugged, lounging in his own seat. "I dunno."

James glanced once again at the girl and then shrugged. "So, what's your Quidditch team?"

Instantly, it broke the ice and the two began debating their own Quidditch teams.

Sirius shared James's love for Quidditch, something Cherish lacked even though she'd only flown a few times. She wasn't nearly as good as James, at least in his opinion.

The compartment door slid open, but James was still fighting with Sirius over whose Quidditch team was best and James only glanced to see if it was Cherish and turned back to Sirius when it wasn't.

He was just explaining why his team was better, their best player being the incredible Chaser and James's idol, when he heard the other person in the compartment mention Houses.

He paused, turning to see what he was saying and heard the boy say something about being in Slytherin.

He turned abruptly to look at the boy, who was talking to the redhead girl. She was sniffing, though she'd stopped crying. The boy was scrawny, with sallow skin and black, greasy hair and black eyes.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin?" James announced his presence loudly. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked his new companion.

Sirius looked rather sour. "My whole family have been in Slytherin," he informed James, seeming very sulky about it.

"Blimey," James said in shock, "and I thought you seemed all right."

Sirius's cold gaze softened slightly and he grinned at James. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the chance?"

James mimed lifting a sword, "Gryffindor, where dwell the brave heart! Like my dad," he said proudly.

The greasy haired boy made a sound that sounded rather disapproving, and James whirled on him. "Got a problem with that?"

"No," the boy answered with a cold sneer. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-" his black eyes narrowed with mirth.

Sirius flashed to James's defense. "Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?"

James laughed, as did Sirius.

The redhead, who had been quiet until now stood up, flushed with anger. She threw both boys looks of dislike.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment," she said as she walked toward the door of the compartment, swinging it open.

"Ooooo..." James and Sirius did their best to imitate her lofty voice, and James tried to trip the boy as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!"

The compartment door had barely closed when it opened again, Cherish appeared, her face flushed and she appeared rather out of breath. "James! Thank Merlin, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Who are you?" Sirius asked sharply, eyebrows raised.

Cherish turned to him, having not yet recognized his presence. When she met his eyes however, she stared and speech seemed to fail her. She blinked and closed her mouth. Something about him radiated his high-prestige from his good looks to his tone.

"This is Cherish," James interrupted, when it appeared she was stunned into silence.

"I'm Sirius Black," the boy held out his hand in greeting and after a moment Cherish took it.

There was a knock at the door and James pulled it open to reveal a sandy haired boy, "Hey, is this compartment full?" he asked, seeming out of breath like Cherish.

"Nah, you can join us," James told him and helped the other boy with his trunk.

"I'm James," he told the boy as he helped shove the trunk into the overhead compartment, "That there is Sirius Black-"

"And Cherish Meadowes," Cherish cut him off, smiling and taking the boy's hand.

"Remus Lupin," he answered with a smile, and extracted a book from his shabby trunk. "How're you?"

"Good, and you?" Cherish asked, but before Remus could respond there was a sharp squeal from outside in the hallway.

Cherish was the first to react, racing to the door and sticking her head out, looking up and down the hall to see what the commotion was about.

"Oh no! James, they're hurting him! Stop it!" she shrieked, racing out and James had no choice but to follow her.

There was a blonde haired boy, standing over a smaller, cringing blonde with wide blue eyes who lay on the ground. Cherish was kneeling over him to help the smaller blonde up. The larger blonde drew his wand. "Back up girl, I'm just having a friendly chat with Peter here," he pointed at the cringing blonde with his wand and gave the other boy a sharp kick to emphasize his point.

"Not very friendly chat," Cherish told him rather boldly. "Cut it out, what did he do to you?"

The other boy's mouth curled into a smirk. "He was in my compartment. One reserved only for Prefects," he growled. "Do you know what that means, girl?"

Cherish narrowed her eyes but didn't back down. "It means you're supposed to be kind and respectful to others. Not hurt them simply for being in your compartment. I'm sure he didn't know," she crossed her arms and glared at the blonde.

James strode forward, instinctively drawing his wand.

"James, no!" Cherish's objection came too late. He'd already struck the tall blonde with a curse.

"Run!" he told the two, and Cherish pulled Peter up and shoved him into their compartment, James following with one last backwards glance at the Prefect.

"What was that for?" Cherish hissed angrily at James, reminding him of an angry cat.

James grinned. "Oh come off it Cher, he's a git and you know it. I meant to disarm him but it didn't work. Only knocked him backwards a bit."

Peter was now sitting next to Remus, staring at James with wide eyes. "Thanks mate, I thought I was done for."

James shrugged, trying to look modest. "It was nothing."

Minutes later, they were playing Exploding Snap and Peter was proving to be very good at it. "You just have to know which ones to pull," he explained when Sirius and James asked him how he managed it.

Remus had buried his nose in a book, but glanced over at them whenever Sirius gave a particularly loud cheer.

Cherish wondered if there would be any food at all, when there was a rap at the door.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" The woman pushing the cart was older, with a soft smile like Cherish's grandmother and her hair was light brown streaked with grey.

James leapt up immediately, knocking over the Exploding Snap game, and Sirius gave an outraged cry when it was in his face that the cards exploded.

"Sorry mate," James passed them to grab his money pouch from his trunk.

He returned, his arms bulging with the sweets he carried and waved off the others, saying he would share with all of them.

Cherish took a few Licorice Wands and tore into them without hesitation.

Sirius glared at James, and then took the packets of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum from James as a peace offering and lessened his glare.

Remus hesitantly accepted a few Chocolate frogs, and used one of the cards to mark his book. Then he sat, eyeing the pile of sweets though he didn't take any more.

James and Sirius had resumed their game of Exploding Snap with Peter, who kept brushing crumbs from his Pumpkin Pasties into a pile.

Cherish peered curiously at Remus's book. "Secrets of the Darkest Art," she read off of the peeling cover. Remus nodded, watching as Sirius's card exploded loudly.

James noticed Remus looking at the pile of sweets and taking a bite of Cauldron Cake, motioned to it. "Want some?"

Remus shook his head quickly. "No, 'm fine."

James nodded and shrugged, helping set up the next game although it was clear to him that Remus was not fine.

After five minutes and Lupin still hadn't made a move towards the pile, James tossed him a Chocolate Frog, which surprisingly Remus caught deftly.

Remus gave him a small smile said "Thanks," and after that had no problems devouring half the pile of Chocolate Frogs.

Cherish, who was now reading the magazine, Witch Weekly, and cautiously eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans when she held one out to James.

"Try this, will you?" she held out a dark brown bean.

He stared up at her and then popped it into his mouth with a shrug. Then he coughed and made a face. "Coffee," he informed her.

Cherish laughed, then reached behind her to the seat full of candies and took another Licorice Wand, tearing off the wrapper and taking a bite.

Even though they were playing a game, James brought up the subject of Quidditch and found the game quickly forgotten.

Peter, though he loved the sport, claimed he was easily the worst player. Sirius and James fought over who was more skilled at flying on a broomstick and who was more likely to make the team next year. Remus munched on his chocolate, simply stated he didn't care much for the sport and vanished behind Secrets of the Darkest Art.

Cherish smiled, and turned to the section of her magazine that read, Fifty Plus Ways to Charm Your Wizard, No Love Potions Involved and was quickly immersed in the section.

Half an hour later, she left to allow the boys to change into their robes, and went to find an all-girl compartment to change herself. "I'll be back soon," she told the boys as they were still talking of Quidditch.

She pulled open the door of a compartment. It only contained two girls, her own age, who stared at her.

One had auburn red hair, and the other had brown, and they both looked questioningly at her.

"I was in a compartment of all-boys," she explained. "Mind if I change in here?"

Both girls shook their heads. "I'm Lily," the redhead told her. "And this is Alice."

"I'm Cherish, nice to meet both of you," she answered politely.

She changed, pulling her robes on and buttoning them up and straightening her skirt nervously. Alice pulled her hair out from her robes where it had stuck and said, "I love your hair. It's very beautiful."

"It is," Lily agreed. "I wish my hair wasn't red. It clashes so badly with other colors."

"No, it's gorgeous," Cherish told her. "It would look nice with blue or gold."

"Hm," Lily dismissed the comment. "What House are you going into?"

"Gryffindor," Cherish answered automatically, grinning.

"I'll probably be in Ravenclaw, from what I've heard," Lily mused looking uncertain. "My friend wants me to go into Slytherin with him."

Alice wrinkled her nose. "Slytherin? Ugh. I'm going into Gyrffindor with Cherish if I have the choice. You're too good Lily, you won't be in Slytherin in a million years. Salazar himself wouldn't put you in it."

Cherish made a small sound of agreement. "I should be going. My friends will be wondering where I am," she said, and the two girls turned away with goodbyes and resumed the conversation they were probably having prior to her interrupting them.

Cherish walked back, knocking before she pushed open the compartment door. James turned, and hurtled a handful of Cauldron Cakes at her.

She let out a shriek, and ducked to avoid most of them and then caught one, throwing it with quite good aim at Remus who was still behind his book. How he caught it was a miracle, and he then threw it at James, who caught it easily.

"Thanks mate, how'd you know I wanted one?" he asked Remus as he tore the wrapper off and took a bite.

Cherish laughed and resumed her seat as before, taking one of the remaining snacks before picking up her magazine again.

James, Sirius and Peter were all talking about how sorting into their Houses might work. Over her magazine Cherish saw Remus give an odd sort of smile but keep silent as he closed his book.

"I've heard it's some sort of test," Peter was saying, looking frightened. "I dunno much magic though."

"Nah, can't be. Muggleborns wouldn't know much, would they?" James disagreed. "Must be something practical."

"You just put on a Sorting Hat and it sorts you based on what it sees in your mind," Remus said calmly from where he sat.

They all turned to him, even Cherish.

Cherish gave him a skeptical look, raising her eyebrows. "How do you-"

"Asked my mum," he answered easily. The other three boys looked at him, stunned. Cherish hid a grin behind her hand at their disbelieving looks.

"The train's stopped," she commented, breaking the silence.

"We have arrived. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be brought up to the castle separately."

Cherish led the way to where a large man was saying, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

At his instruction, Cherish scrambled warily into a small boat with James, Sirius and Peter. Looking around, she realized with a start that Remus wasn't with them.

"Where'd Remus go?" she asked the other three. They all looked around, realizing he had vanished.

"He must've hopped in another boat. We'll see him soon," James said with a shrug. "He's probably forgotten his book."

The small group of boats pushed off all at once, gliding across the black water, silent except for the sound of the oars in the water. They all ducked through a curtain of ivy, and were carried along a dark tunnel.

It led to a underground harbor of sorts, and they all scrambled after the large man, Hagrid, who held up a large lantern to the large oak doors of Hogwarts.

He knocked on the door, and the woman who answered it was tall, her black hair pulled back into a bun and fixed them with a rather stern look.

She led them through an entrance hall where the stone walls were lit brightly with torches, and then stopped to speak to them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. You will be sorted into your Houses momentarily. As such, you will have your classes with the rest of your house and so forth. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. You can earn or lose your house points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup."

James, already bored by the prospect of following instructions instead turned his attention to fellow classmates. Remus had reappeared and was now chatting with another boy in their year.

Cherish was talking to the redhead from the train. Upon noticing his gaze, the redhead shot him a reproachful look before turning back to Cherish.

A few rough looking boys surrounded the greasy haired boy from the train. Severus as the redhead had called him, narrrowed his black eyes coldly at James. Not to be outmatched, James glared back until the other boy looked away. James stood a little taller and raised his head a bit more.

"Slytherin for sure," Sirius muttered to him.

James nodded in agreement. "We'll be seeing more of him for sure. Greasy git."


	2. Gryffindor

**Marauder Memories:**

**Chapter Two: Gryffindor**

* * *

Cherish pushed back the scarlet covers to the four-poster that she now slept in. The hangings were red as well, the room was already lit by the window between each of the beds. Cherish pulled back the curtains enough to view her clock.

"7:00," she read out loud to no one in particular. She debated going back to sleep or getting up to grab a bite to eat before lessons. Before she could decide her stomach gave a growl.

That was that, she decided. She got up, made her way to the bathroom and changed into her attire with the red and yellow striped tie, black skirt with grey stockings and black shoes.

"You're awake," she heard when she walked back in. Lily was sitting on her bed, polishing her own black shoes. "Good, do you know how to get to the Great Hall?"

Cherish hadn't really given it much thought. "I think so. Should we wait for Alice?" she gestured to the brown-haired girl who still hadn't shown any signs of showing up any time soon.

Lily hesitated. "Nah, let her sleep for now." The pair gathered their bookbags and headed down. Though she chose a few wrong turns Cherish managed to find a route that led her to the Great Hall.

It was nearly thirty minutes after seven when they finally found the entrance according to Lily's watch. She had a common muggle watch which she reckoned was a good thing since the wizard-watches had planets which made it nearly impossible to tell the actual time.

"I thought we'd never find breakfast," Lily said as she sank into a place on the bench. Cherish sat down next to her companion and kneeled up on the bench to have a better look around.

Looking down the bench she saw that not many other Gryffindors-or really any House-were up and about yet. "I wonder if they've gotten lost," Cherish murmured more to herself than anyone else.

"Who?" Lily asked from her hot scrambled eggs as she put them on toast.

"James," she replied sitting back down and straightening her skirt.

"Which one is he?" Lily asked although it seemed more out of politeness than actual interest.

"The one with messy black hair and those awful glasses," Cherish poured herself a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Hm," Lily made an odd sound in her throat.

Cherish looked along the table at all the different options. She finally selected a couple of sizzling sausages and two fried eggs. "What's wrong with James?" she cast a side glance at Lily.

The redhead had wrinkled her nose at the sound of his name. "Nothing. I just don't like him much."

"You don't even know him," Cherish pointed out fairly as she cut up her sausages, popping a bite in her mouth.

"I don't," Lily admitted after a long sip of orange juice and a bite of toast. "But I know his type."

"Meaning?" Cherish probed after a moment.

"You," Lily answered, finishing her toast and looking up as the mail arrived.

Cherish stared as the pack of owls swooped into the Great Hall. Many of the owls' owners were not actually present and so the owls flew around or set to eating pieces of toast.

Lily's owl landed gracefully beside her, folding its wings back and looking around importantly. Lily stroked her owl's head and fed her some bread crumbs and offered her a drink from her own goblet before her owl took off again. Lily unrolled the Daily Prophet and scanned it, flipped to a section and began to read.

"Anything interesting?" Cherish asked taking a slice of toast from a rack.

"Hm, not really," Lily replied over the news. "Only that there's been a few bar fights, one sent to trial for injuries but nothing serious." Lily closed the paper and folded it.

"Pass the marmalade, will you?" Cherish began to spread marmalade on her toast now.

Lily gave her a critical look that Cherish ignored. "Are you done with that?" she asked, pointing to Lily's paper. Lily shrugged and Cherish picked it up to read the front cover.

"You're from wizard-parents, right?" Lily asked tentatively.

Cherish lowered the paper slowly. "Wizard-parents?" her voice implied that Lily was treading on a touchy subject.

"What is the term for having wizard-and-witch parents?" Lily asked far more hesitantly than before.

"Pureblood, at least in my case," Cherish answered after a moment. "Same as James and Sirius. We're some of the oldest blood there is. Most all purebloods are related. Sirius and I are distant cousins or something."

"Oh," Lily looked rather confused but smiled anyway.

Cherish returned to the paper, looking at a few ads for dressmakers and debated sending her mother a clipping, perhaps she could get it as a gift for her birthday. Suddenly someone pulled lightly on her hair.

She spun around, dropping the paper to find James grinning above her. "Cher, you're up early," he sounded surprised.

"As are you," Cherish told him with a roll of her eyes.

"But I happen to be a morning person," James gestured to himself as he said it, "You are not," he finished while pointing toward her.

"I couldn't get much sleep," she folded the Daily Prophet and handed it back to Lily.

"Hm," James seemed momentarily distracted, having spotted his parents' owl he ran to fetch it. The owl hopped neatly out of reach and ruffled its feathers as though put out with James.

"Come on," James whined.

Cherish called to it softly, "Come here," she coaxed it holding out the crust of her toast to the speckled owl. It gave a small hoot and fluttered down next to her to eat the toast remains and happily drank several gulps of water from a goblet. Cherish petted the owl, untied the scroll and crumbled more toast for the owl.

"Honestly James, your own owl doesn't even like you," Cherish said as she handed over the scroll of parchment.

James scowled, made a face at her and took the scroll. Next to him, Sirius took a large bite of toast and read over James's shoulder.

Lily returned to her own breakfast, casting a doubtful look at James and Sirius before focusing fixedly on her food.

"He only likes you because you feed him," James retorted as he set the scroll on the table and began to dish himself up sausages and eggs.

Cherish rolled her eyes and picked up the scroll, and when James made no move to stop her she read it. He took in her expression, and shrugged. "He was getting old, Cher. You knew it would happen soon."

"Yes, but not now," Cherish looked downward, her eyes sparkling with tears.

Lily had no idea what was happening, gave Cherish a confused but sympathetic look. James exchanged a glance with Sirius.

"I'm going to find Remus," Sirius excused himself and practically fled the scene.

"Cher," James put an arm around her comfortingly. "He was an old sport horse. You wouldn't have wanted him to suffer. Besides, my parents will get another horse. We have quite a few, you know that."

Cherish nodded, sniffing slightly. James gave her a hug, whispering something in her ear that made her crack a small smile. He then rose and went to where Sirius was sitting with Remus who was half-awake.

Lily gazed after him. "You two are close," she stated after a moment.

Cherish nodded, "He's like a brother to me."

"What about Sirius?" Lily nodded to the other boy with wavy, dark hair and silver eyes.

Cherish glanced at said person before looking back at Lily. "I only just met him."

"He seems like trouble," Lily said as she watched the boys gather around an arm-wrestling match, Sirius and James both cheering on the pair.

James glanced toward her, and Cherish gathered her bag and made her way toward the two. Lily picked up her Daily Prophet again and began to read.

Cherish couldn't help but smile with the two boys shouting their encouragement at the wrestling pair. In her eyes Sirius and James had already forged an unbreakable bond of friendship.

Sirius grinned when the one he was rooting for slammed his opponent's hand down. "Cough up," he fixed James with a look of triumph.

James laughed, shoved Sirius and handed over two galleons.

"New students," Lily had appeared again, this time at McGonagall's side. "When I call your name come forward to take your timetable for this term."

Cherish was comparing her timetable with Lily and realized quickly that all the First Year Gryffindors had the same schedule.

"Transfiguration first," James read aloud looking at Cherish and Sirius. The three searched for nearly twenty minutes before they stumbled on the classroom by accident and took their seats.

Cherish found a chair in the front of the room, with Lily arriving not long after her and taking a seat next to her new friend.

* * *

Cherish collapsed onto the bench next to Lily and looked along the table at the lunch options.

Lily had grabbed two sandwiches and was pulling the cheese out of one of them.

"What's wrong with cheese?" Cherish asked, looking at the perfectly good slices.

"I don't like it," Lily replied putting the sandwich back together and taking a bite.

Cherish settled on stew, scooping large chunks of beef, carrots and potatoes onto her plate. She picked up her fork and began to eat rapidly.

Lily glanced at her and put her sandwich down again to take a sip of juice. "Why are you in such a hurry?" Lily glanced toward the clock, "We don't have lessons for another hour."

"I've got to go to the library," Cherish explained as she gulped down a few more mouthfuls. "And I've want to meet up with James before Potions."

Lily gave her a look consisting of raised eyebrows and a skeptical eyeroll, but she continued to eat her sandwich without making a comment.

"I'll see you," she swallowed her last mouthful of stew, grabbed a roll and nearly sprinted toward Gryffindor tower.

She found James surrounded by Sirius and Remus. James was perched on the back of a couch, Sirius sitting on the couch cracking a joke and Remus on the other side watching the pair with amusement dancing in his eyes.

For awhile she watched them, then James took notice of her and walked over to her. "What do you need Cher?"

"Nothing, I was just looking for you." She glanced toward his friends hesitantly. Sirius had thrown his head back laughing at something Remus had said. Remus looked toward her, smiling politely.

He had kind brown eyes, light brown hair and tended to be shy. Suddenly he jerked his head toward himself, welcoming her into the group with the simple gesture.

Sirius turned toward her, his eyes seeking out who Remus was gesturing to. His eyes landed on her and widened slightly. Remus smiled again. Encouraged, she walked over to join them.

They talked for a long time. For several minutes James looked on worriedly, his eyes darting to Cherish and then Sirius but after a brief exchange he began to relax.

"Look at the time," he glanced at the watch on Sirus's wrist. "Potions is next, we better get going."

They grabbed their books and headed down together. Cherish laughed, threw her arm over James's shoulder and leaned lightly on him. As though he could read her mind he watched her and then spoke.

"Cher, you'll be brilliant," James pulled free and stole her bag and for a spit second he stared at her and then he bolted.

"James, how dare-" Cherish had barely opened her mouth to chastise him when both Remus and Sirius raced after him.

James ran easily, slinging her bag over his shoulder and choosing one busy corridor after another to run through. He darted swiftly down several staircase, hopping over trip stairs and outrunning all three of the people chasing him.

"James!" Remus shouted as he ran up behind James, with Sirius not far behind.

James reached the dungeons first, slinging her bag into a chair and plopping himself down next to it. Sirius and Remus were both breathing hard, laughing as they found their own desk to share.

Cherish appeared, her hair messy from sprinting to catch up with him, a pink flush on her cheeks. "James Potter!"

He grinned cheekily at her. She hesitated, fuming and hit him on the back of the head with her textbook.

"You're so rude," she criticized angrily. Then he flashed her his winning smile and she couldn't even pretend to be mad at her best friend anymore.

He wrote noted without much complaint, however the moment they had to work with ingredients he set up a fuss. He pulled a face.

"It's only a draught, James," Cherish studied the recipe.

"I don't know how to make a potion," he stared at his cauldron as though the potion would make itself.

"It's like cooking," Cherish explained. "Just follow what it says."

James stared at her blankly. Cherish had him gather the various ingredients and light the fire under their cauldron while she went around skinning, cutting open, slicing and then dicing up frogs and roots.

Just as she was measuring out sliced frog she heard the tinkling of glass and something freezing cold splashed onto her robes and hit her leg.

"James!" she spun around to see him staring up at her with wide guilty eyes.

"I'm sorry!" he yelped, straightening up and trying to fix the broken glass. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," she added the sliced frog and stirred the potion.

Professor Slughorn who was making the rounds around the room came to where James was attempting to clean up the glass and paused. "Mr. Potter," he frowned down at James, "Do try to be more careful, will you?"

James ducked his head quickly. "Yes, sir."

With a wave of his wand Professor Slughorn siphoned off the spilled liquid and fixed the broken glass.

Cherish continued the potion, trying to get it the right teal color although she doubted she would have much success.

Lily and her partner proved to be exceptionally good at Potions, getting the potion almost perfectly without much effort.

"Clear up! Read the first two chapters on basic potions and the danger of potions," Professor Slughorn instructed. The class hurriedly began to clean up their remaining ingredients.

Cherish corked two bottles for the professor to grade. James cleared their cauldron and stored it. Cherish scooped roots into their leather bindings, packing herbs into their correct jars and corked liquids.

Lily was having trouble with her own roots.

"I can help," Cherish offered, setting down her own bag to help.

Lily flashed her a grateful look, nodding to a handful of roots.

Cherish used twine to hold them together and straightened up. Next to Lily, the sallow-skinned boy watcher Cherish almost warily. His black eyes bored into hers and he blinked slowly.

Cherish smiled at him politely but his gaze only hardened and he narrowed his eyes slightly.

The bell sounded and Cherish scrambled after the group of boys heading toward the door. James paused momentarily and looked back at her. "Cher, hurry up!" She put on a burst of speed and catching up to him with ease and following him out.

* * *

September passed quickly, turning into October and the leaves on the trees faded from the vibrant green into orange and dull red.

Cherish looked behind her at the four boys. Sirius was laughing at something James had said, Remus was looking somewaht shabby but a grin on his face nonetheless and Peter trotted to keep up with the fast pace set by the other boys, his eyes on James and Sirius as he followed them.

She dug her camera out and snapped a photo of them laughing, James ruffling Remus's hair in an affectionate way, Sirius with his arm thrown over James and Remus's shoulders, and then James pulling Peter into the group.

"Come on, the Halloween feast is after this class," Cherish called to them. James broke free from the group and sped up to where Cherish was.

"Herbology," he grumbled. "Why do all the plants have to have spines, spikes, thorns," he gestured to the plants that were moving. One reached out to snap at him with visibly sharp teeth, "or teeth," he added giving the plant a sharp swat with one hand.

Cherish rolled her eyes at him. "Just be patient," she suggested as they were seated.

Of all of them, Peter and Cherish seemed to have the most talent with plants. Cherish had the patience. No one knew what Peter had done, but he seemed to have a natural talent at Herbology.

Cherish grabbed her own set of cutters, gloves, then a large potted plant and began the work of snipping of nettles. Peter was slipping on a pair of gloves and was pointing out large nettle branches for Cherish to cut.

"That one looks good," he pointed to one of the green branches covered in stinging hairs.

"Ow," James hissed from behind them where he had just brushed against one of the nettle's sharp hairs. He yanked his hand back and sucked on his finger which was already bleeding.

"Don't do that," Cherish grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand from his mouth quickly. "You'll just sting your mouth," she warned and pointed toward the sink. "You have to wash it off, otherwise it'll get infected."

"What's the point of this anyhow?" Sirius grumbled as he tried to saw off one of the nettle branches.

Cherish looked up and sighed. "You can't use a sawing motion. You'll rip the branch, it's not good for the plant, you have to cut it. Use the cutters like scissors," she set down her own pair to demonstrate.

Sirius glowered at her, though she could tell he wasn't truly mad at her. "Why can you do this so easily?" he objected.

Cherish studied him for a moment to determine if he was being serious. "Patience, and I read the instructions," she replied fairly.

James had returned, but seeing that Sirius was being helped by Cherish he walked to where Peter was instead. Cherish handed Sirius a pair of cutters, "Now cut that branch," she indicated a thin branch with many nettle leaves.

Sirius cut the branch she indicated and she continued to point out good leaves to cut until they finished the plant. Then she picked out another large one, placing it in front of him and they continued to work well together. Sirius would point out branches and Cherish would cut them with a quick snip of the cutters and set them in a bin to be used in potions, nettle wine, nettle tea and the occasional soup.

"How do people eat these things?" Sirius asked after getting stung a second time.

"In potions the nettles just get crushed for their juice. I think in nettle wine and tea the nettles aren't actually eaten, they just seep in water," Cherish said thoughtfully as she arranged another branch in the small pile.

Sirius was relieved when the bell finally rang and he was able to get out of the stuffy greenhouse. James, Sirius and Remus all looked tired and their faces were smeared with earth. Cherish looked fairly clean, as did Peter who had managed to avoid the stinging nettles. Cherish nursed her two cuts with a dab or two of dittany that she carried in her bag.

Sirius and James used the dittany after her, then handed it off to Remus who refused. "It's only a small cut," he muttered and hurried toward the castle.

They all trooped up to their dormitories for a quick wash and then back down for the Halloween feast.

Cherish gasped as she saw the Great Hall. Hundreds of carved pumpkins floated ominously with different faces lit up by burning candles inside. The bewitched ceiling appeared almost pure black, with no sparkling stars that it usually contained. Black bats swooped around in small clouds, occasionally scaring an unsuspecting student.

Peeves cackled and was up to more mischief than usual holding a pea shooter and hitting anyone who wasn't looking. Cherish was more startled by the amount of food.

The golden plates held large amounts of sweets, swirled lollipops, large chocolates rolled in sprinkles swimming in Every Flavor Beans, large cuts of carrot cake, sweet apples which nobody touched, soft fat sugar rolled gummy candies, fake chocolate galleons and bowls of small red spicy candies.

Hardly anyone ate dinner that consisted of baked potatoes, string beans, roast beef, pork chops, Yorkshire pudding and carrots.

Cherish selected a large potato and drizzled gravy over it. James cut up a large bite of steak, while Sirius reached across him for a large chunk of roast beef. Peter had already finished two dinner rolls and was starting on his lollipop.

"Where's Remus?" she asked, looking around and realizing that the boy was missing from the table.

"He said he had a stomachache," Sirius mumbled around a mouthful of roast beef.

"Is he up in the dorm?" Cherish asked as she dug into her potato.

"Nah, he went to Madam Pomfrey," he stabbed a potato with his fork and began to cut it open. "Said she might have a tonic for it," he was now buttering his potato.

"Well he's missing out," Cherish murmured as she finished her meal and began to help herself to sweets.

James looked toward the bewitched ceiling, "It's almost creepy," he said motioning to the full moon that had risen above.

A long howl, faint and off in the distance could be heard if one was quiet long enough. Cherish paused, glancing at James and Sirius. "Do you think that was a real werewolf?" she asked nervously.

James laughed. "Nah, it's just an enchantment probably. It's Halloween, they just want to scare us."

When he noticed she still looked fearful, Sirius slung an arm around her and pulled on her hair. "We'll protect you, Cherish."


	3. She's Not Just a Pretty Face

**Marauder Memories:**

**Chapter Three: She's Not Just a Pretty Face**

_ Please review, otherwise I don't know if it's good or not. _

* * *

Cherish set out her potions ingredients methodically, conjured up her black cauldron with ease and shoved her bag out of the way. She rolled up her sleeves and reread the recipe.

She moved to the cupboard, snagged a couple last moment ingredients and stood back. Several minutes later she had her cauldron standing up perfectly, a hot fire under it and her first few ingredients already stewing.

She glanced toward Lily's potion which was a perfect textbook translucent green. Lily was already chopping her shrivelfigs and skinning them with ease to get out the soft insides.

Cherish finished adding her own last few ingredients and stood back to let it brew for fifteen minutes. Her own potion was green, though she detected a slight sheen that hers lacked and the slightly darker green color.

She tossed her hair back, trying to appear confident, and hopeful that she had at least scraped an A.

Slughorn came around and checked off Lily's potion, beaming at her and complimenting her once again. Lily flushed scarlet, mumbling something about 'just being good at it,' when he asked for the hundredth time. He gazed at Cherish's own potion for several seconds before he checked it off with a smile to her as well.

They were dismissed and all tiredly gathering up their bags since it was the last class of the week.

"That," James declared as soon as they were out of earshot of Slughorn, "was torture."

Cherish rolled her eyes and lead the way out to the sun and warmth of the day. "You've gotten at least an A," she told him confidently. "I saw your potion. It wasn't as bad as usual."

"You're precious, Cher," he joked. "Lying to make me feel better, thanks." He turned sharply to take the stairs up to the entrance hall.

"Ja-ames," she drew out the syllables in a whine, "You're truly brilliant."

He threw her a grin, rolled his eyes and turned to Sirius who was strolling ahead of the pair past the Great Hall and out into the beautiful sun and the warm day.

Sirius looked pale white in the sun, his skin contrasting with the dark black waves and his grey eyes. He flopped down next to the large tree resting by the lake.

Cherish threw down her own bags and sat down. "It feels nice to be done for this weekend." She gazed out at the shimmering lake, the Giant Squid was drawing its tentacles out of the water skimming the surface lazily.

"What would your soul-animal be?" Cherish asked, stretching her arms out above her and then sitting up to look at the two boys stretched out beside her.

James had his eyes closed, but he still mumbled his reply half-coherantely, "A lion," he repeated when he realized she couldn't tell what he'd said.

Sirius looked like he was sleeping and shocked Cherish when he sat up from the grass to look at her. "A dog," he said, throwing her an offended look when she raised her eyebrows at him. "What, Cher? I like dogs. They're fierce, strong, loyal...confident."

Cherish looked startled. He had never called her 'Cher' before. "Fierce?" she threw her head back and laughed at him.

Sirius looked at her and then pulled a face her probably thought looked fierce-ish, his eyes narrowed as he tried to bare his teeth in a snarl like a dog.

James began to laugh. "You've got too much confidence, you dog."

Sirius whirled to look at Remus who had sat down against the tree trunk, unnoticed by any of them and looking at them over his book.

"What about you?"

Remus continued to read, sighed irritably when Sirius prodded him and he looked toward Cherish.

He looked wistful for a moment. "I'd like to be a lynx or a fox. Cunning, and a trickster...they're quiet, predators and they like to surprise their prey." Then he pounced, bowling Sirius over and smacking him in the side of the head with a swift blow.

"Lupin!" Sirius pulled his fierce face and tackled the smaller boy, cuffing him around the head as well.

"James!" Remus squealed as Sirius began to tickle his sides mercilessly, "Help me!"

James was doubled over with laughter, his shoulders shaking with mirth. Cherish laughed then helped Remus out by pushing Sirius over. Sirius lay on the grass, looking at her sitting in the grass he eyed her momentarily and then pounced on her instead. He nearly knocked her over as he pushed her flat on the ground, tickling her.

She let out a yelp and she scrambled up, then ducked to avoid one of his arms and as she did she spotted James who had leapt to his feet.

His normally warm brown eyes flickered in concern, she thought she could detect a flash of panic before he wrestled Sirius off of her, both of them hitting each other playfully.

James shook himself free, grinning and shoving Sirius. Cherish sat up and spoke quietly with Remus. The soft-spoken boy didn't talk much, often times he only nodded or shook his head.

"I've seen you in Defense, Remus. You're talented, you'll pass with flying colors," she assured him. The book he held was their Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. He looked only slightly nervous about their upcoming exams later that month.

He cast her a quick, hesitant look and then gave a short nod. "Thanks."

"Why don't you take a break from studying?" she suggested. "Just for a bit," she added when she say the uncertainty in his eyes.

He nodded, setting his book down and looking out at the Black Lake. Cherish looked over at James and Sirius who were now practicing their dueling skills, sending sparks at one another.

She sighed and stood up, "Come on, Remus," she held out her hand to him. "We're going to do something fun."

"What?" he asked quietly even as he took her hand and stood up. She walked away toward the rocky shore, where the grass changed into grey rocks.

"I'm going to teach you a very important skill," she paused to give him a look of sparking mischief and let the tension build. "You're going to learn how to skip rocks."

Remus threw her a look of disbelief. Then he knelt, picked up a rock and threw it. The rock plopped into the water and sank quickly. Cherish shook her head, picked up her own rock and threw it gracefully across the water. It skipped neatly three times before it vanished.

"You want a flat, skinny rock," Cherish knelt, selected a rock and handed it to him. "Like this one, it's heavy enough to throw but not too heavy that it'll just sink."

"Then stand like this," Cherish demonstrated and Remus tried to imitate her. She fixed his stance, making sure his angle was correct before standing back and nodding her approval.

"Now, fling it with a quick movement like this," she moved her arm as though she was going to throw a frisbee. "Now you try."

Over and over Remus tried, Cherish offering bits of encouragement and then he managed to skip it. It only skipped twice but it was something.

He turned to her, his eyes wide showing the depths of the soft blue, shining with a rare joy. Cherish opened her mouth to praise him when he wrapped her in a hug. Startled, but pleased she hugged him back warmly.

"Good job," she praised when he let her go. "Keep practicing and soon enough you'll be even better than me."

He laughed softly. "Never, you're too good Cherish," he smiled. His eyes turned thoughtful and he hesitated before he spoke. "I see why James favors you," he said it quietly as though fearful that they were judging him.

She only smiled and then stepped back. "You can study, if you'd like," she offered upon realizing that she'd pulled him away from his books.

He glanced back at James and Sirius who were now chasing one another around the tree. He shrugged as though unconcerned. "I rather like this, actually. Would you...stay?"

Cherish smiled. "It's no trouble, really. Ready to try to get three?" she motioned toward the water.

She selected a pale gray stone, testing to see how flat it was before she held it up. At the same time he straightened up holding a black stone with the same smooth texture.

"Ready?" the two met eyes, lightly tapping the rocks together. "Now."

The pair moved together, taking up their stances and then throwing the rocks together.

Her stone skipped four times, and Remus let out a small cheer when his own skipped across the water five times. Cherish smiled joyfully. "See? You've already started to beat me."

She walked out, across the wearing wooden dock and sat down. She pulled off her shoes and socks to dip her feet in.

"Is it cold, Cher?" James called from the bank.

She looked back at him. It was cold, not that she would admit it. "Why don't you come find out?" she called back, her eyes daring him.

He shook his head quickly. "You'll just have Sirius push me in," he told her looking at the dock cautiously.

"Great idea," Sirius's eyes lit up at the prospect.

"No way!" James leapt up and bolted toward the castle.

Remus paused, waiting for her and when she had her shoes back on she raced after them, catching up to James as she passed Sirius who had dropped back to wait for Remus

"I can't believe it's almost winter," she murmured as she put an arm around James.

"I already picked out your Christmas gift," James said as he picked at dirt under his nails.

"You do?" Cherish looked at him expectantly.

He shot her a sideways glance, smirking at the look of excitement in her eyes. "Yes," he answered simply, "but I won't tell you."

Cherish threw him a false glare. "You should, I'm your best friend."

"It's supposed to be a surprise, Cher," he laughed at the affronted expression she gave him.

"I don't like surprises," she brooded and crossed her arms.

"I know, Cher," his eyes sparked with glee. "That's why I do this every year," he tugged on her hair and then lit out in a run, Sirius coming up from nowhere to run after James leaving Cherish behind with Remus.

Remus glanced at her and then rolled his eyes. "Let's go make sure those two don't get into too much trouble without us."

* * *

Cherish chose a seat next to Lily during Charms and the pair whispered anxiously about the wrist movement in the spell they were trying to use.

"Maybe it's more of a flick," Lily suggested when nothing happened.

Her wand still lay where it was, much to her mounting frustration.

"I don't understand," Cherish huffed, "I haven't done any of it wrong," she skimmed the book again.

Lily sighed, looking equally nervous as she tried the spell again. "Lumos," she waved her own wand. "I just don't see how-" she broke off staring at the book as though it had offended her.

"No one else is doing much good either," Cherish pointed out hopefully as she looked around the room.

"Good job, Mr. Lupin," the teacher proclaimed loudly as the shy boy managed to make the tip of his own wand flare up with a bright light.

"Lumos is supposed to be one of the easiest spells to learn," Cherish sighed and looked toward Remus who had just earned their House ten points.

A pretty, black-haired girl was next to achieve the spell. The girl threw Cherish a nasty glare and smirked. Even though she was in their Year, and their dorm, the girl seemed rather bitter toward everyone.

"What did I do?" Cherish hissed under her breath as she exchanged a quick glance with Lily. Lily's green eyes matched the shock reflected in Cherish's own green eyes.

"Probably something you did," Lily answered. "Maybe she's just jealous because you're better at Potions than her," she tried to wave if off with some confidence. "Nothing to worry about."

Cherish murmured in agreement but something insider her wouldn't let it go completely. Behind her, both Sirius and James had mastered the spell and Lily only got it after many tries.

"Don't do any wand movement," Lily hissed and Cherish only got it after Lily showed her. Lily held Cherish's wand at the same time Cherish did, with Cherish saying the incantation.

"I'm better at Potions than this," Cherish said thinking of her usually acceptable potions she could produce.

"You can't be good at everything, Cher," James said from behind her.

She tossed her long hair over her shoulder and sent him a glare. "I know," she rolled her eyes.

Nearly everyone got the spell by the end of class, even Peter who was dead awful at Charms.

Cherish glanced towards the newest addiction to the boys' group as the class filed out. He was nearly a head shorter than James, he was chubby but not fat, his baby fat still remained in his face and neck, and he had bright blue eyes. His hair fell in his face much of the time, the greyish blonde strands obscuring any view of his eyes much of the time.

Cherish had yet to grow to care for the pudgy boy. He was considerably nice, with a good eye for tactics that made him excel in games such as Wizard's Chess and Gobstones, sometimes Exploding Snap. However he lacked the charm that James and Sirius shared and he had none of the sweet, calmness that Remus did.

He was simply...there. He was always around, enough that Cherish had grown accustomed to his presence.

The four boys threw their bags on the floor and took over the couch and a cozy armchair. Cherish flopped down into the other fluffy armchair though she quickly moved away from the chair to watch as Peter pulled out his deck of playing cards.

Peter looked around the group patiently. Remus looked on over his usual book, then Sirius finally shifted and then stretched himself out on the rug to play Exploding Snap.

James pulled out his essay and was making quick work of it, already on his third paragraph.

"I never want this to change," Cherish told him quietly as she watched Peter beat Sirius, Remus smiling over his textbook at the pair and seeing the grin that Peter threw her and James.

James looked at her and for a moment he looked wise, then he blinked and the look vanished, replaced with a faraway look. "It won't change," he whispered to her and then bent over his essay to add more sentences.

* * *

When the Christmas list finally made its way around, Sirius and James signed up to stay at Hogwarts together. Peter mumbled something hurriedly about his mum and Remus pondered the days before he shook his head. Cherish hesitantly made the decision to stay behind with the pair of boys who had become like her brothers.

James and Sirius both seemed quite pleased when the majority of Gryffindor House stood on the platform, ready to leave for their homes.

Cherish gave both Peter and Remus a hug before they left to board the train.

"You'll be all right, Cher," Remus told her and let her go with a smile.

Peter had smiled nervously, and tensed when she pulled him into a hug as well. "Have a good Christmas, Peter," she told him. He nodded when she released him, still looking rather tense.

"You too, Remus," she gave him a smile before stepping back and allowing Sirius and James their goodbyes. Sirius spoke with them briefly, looking unsettled and uncomfortable. James was noticeably more cheerful, though he too kept his goodbyes short. He gave Peter a clap on the back and Remus a short hug.

Cherish watched sadly as the train flew down the tracks and out of sight, noticing how Sirius seemed less tense almost instantly.

She held her tongue through a delicious supper consisting of chicken casserole and hot rolls. She even managed a few scoops of strawberry ice cream which was oddly refreshing despite the cold temperatures outdoors.

Sirius seemed to be enjoying himself, eating two helpings at dinner and stuffing down several chocolate eclairs along with his helping of ice cream.

Without any homework to do, the trio contented themselves with games of chess by the hearth. Cherish quickly found she was no good at chess and retired to one of the cozy armchairs with a novel, watching the two boys for hours as they played chess, wrestled and practiced various spells and enchantments.

"My mum wanted me home for Christmas," James admitted as they settled into another game of chess. "You too, Cher. She thought you could stay a couple nights."

Sirius let his eyes flicker up to James before he gave him pawn a sharp prod and gave a noise of recognition. "Hm."

"I reckon she just wants me back, I told her I wanted to stay here with you two," James said shrugging nonchalantly.

He gave Sirius a look and then looked up at Cherish. She met his gaze over the bindings of her book. There was something more in the look he gave her, his eyes moved briefly toward Sirius before he looked back at her.

She gave the tiniest of nods and looked back at her book, not really reading what was written on the pages.

"Checkmate," Sirius declared an hour later after a fierce battle involving a couple castles and a knight.

Cherish lay curled up in the armchair, sitting up at the announcement. James stretched, "I'm going to turn in for the night," he stood up and stretched. "Night, Cher," he ruffled her hair affectionately before heading up toward the dorms.

For a few minutes there was silence as Sirius watched the flames crackling, and Cherish watched him without daring to say anything for a long while. She finally pulled her arms under her, raising herself up onto her elbows and watching him with interest. "Sirius?"

His eyes snapped to her almost warily. "Hm?"

"Why didn't you go home for the holidays?" she tried not to sound too curious.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

Cherish momentarily wondered if she'd bitten off more than she could chew. She looked down, playing with a string on her book. While he didn't sound angry with her, there was a definite edge to his voice. "I was just thinking you might tell me, that's all."

He looked at her with something close to disbelief. "You only want to know because I'm James's best mate."

Cherish shook her head, causing several strands of her hair to fall forward. "I care about you. Just like I care about Remus and Peter."

He hesitated, looking as though he was engaged in some kind of internal battle. "My parents," he finally spoke quietly, "they need some time away from me. My mum owled me-wanted me to come home. My little brother-Regulus, he practically begged me to come home. But I couldn't-I wouldn't, not after..." he trailed off uncertainly.

"After you were put in Gryffindor," Cherish said softly, as though they might be overheard by some unwary stranger.

Sirius nodded, starting mutely into the fire again. She could see the flames reflected in those grey orbs as he stared fixedly at the fire, not meeting her eyes.

"Why?" she asked so softly that if he hadn't been looking at her he wouldn't have known she had spoken.

"I'm supposed to be true to the Black name. We're a family of Slytherin, we're _superior_," it seemed to take a lot of effort for him to force himself to say the words. He barely met her eyes as he said them.

"Sirius," she began, looking at him anxiously as he returned his gaze to the fire.

His head jerked up quite suddenly, his shoulders tense and his head raised as though he was trying to prove he was superior to her. He stood up quickly, looking all the high-born Pureblood he was.

"I don't want your pity," he spat angrily, his eyes narrowing at her.

She stood up, "I'm not pitying you," her voice was even and calm.

"You are," he snarled more angrily still, glaring at her. "I don't want your help."

There was a sudden pattering of footsteps and they both froze. Cherish hadn't realized how quickly Sirius's voice had risen to a shout.

"Stay away from me," Sirius snapped. He stepped closer as though he might hit her. Cherish raised her chin and met his eyes defiantly, not shifting her gaze from his hurt eyes.

James pushed her back, his eyes blazing furiously. "Lay off her," he whirled on Sirius. There was no bitterness in his voice, only the note of protectiveness a brother would use around his sister. "What are you having a go at her for?"

Sirius looked stunned, he closed his mouth quickly but continued to gaze at Cherish. Then Sirius whirled around and stormed out, slamming the portrait hole behind him.

Cherish thought she heard the Fat Lady snap something at Sirius's retreating back but wasn't sure. She watched him go, then bolted after Sirius. James took two steps then faltered at the look she gave him, warning him not to follow her.

He sat down in an armchair and she vanished through the portrait hole after Sirius.

Sirius was running, she only caught glimpses of him from the moonlight above as she chased after him. He was surprisingly fast, making it down several flights of stairs before he vanished completely.

She skidded to a stop, certain that she'd spotted him running down the corridor. She hesitantly lit her wand, seeing only two knights in dulling armor that silently guarded the castle.

"Sirius?" her voice sounded loud in the dead silence of the castle.

She heard his breathing and moved toward it. She turned around a knight and found him lying on the floor. His pale grey eyes met hers but he didn't run this time.

She held her hand out to help him up, he stared at it for several seconds until he took it and pulled her down to his level. She nearly fell, wrapping him in a hug. "Sirius," his name was a whisper on her lips.

"I'm sorry," she told the boy, feeling his tears land on her neck.

"It's not your fault," he managed to croak out. "I don't want to be like them."

"You won't," she comforted, patting him on the back in a comforting gesture.

"H-how do you know?" he asked. She turned to look at him. His eyes were slightly red, she could see the tear tracks glistening in the moonlight. He sounded scared, nothing like the confident, strong boy he usually seemed.

"Because, you don't act like them. You're nothing like the Slytherins. You're the little black sheep," she kissed his forehead gently. He looked up at her, startled by the gesture. "You know," she said slowly as she looked around the dark, "I've never been out in the dark like this. It's kind of interesting."

Sirius brightened slightly, looking at her with a glint of the old mischief in his eyes. "Really?" he took her hand in his, "I'll show you around." She let him pull her up and smiled.

"Where do you want to go? There's this cool passageway through that mirror on the Fourth Floor, and there's the Kitchens I'll bet the house-evles would make us a cup of hot chocolate," he said quite eagerly, pulling her along.

She paused, looking at him. He turned to look at her, "What?"

She shook her head quickly. "Nothing," and allowed him to pull her along and show her the wonders of Hogwarts in the dark. They explored a couple dark corridors and he led her to the Kitchens where, true to his word, the house elves were only too happy to make them mugs of hot chocolate served with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

They were mostly silent, only speaking when the house elves did. Cherish looked toward Sirius as he dunked a biscuit into his hot chocolate and ate it. He isn't so bad, she decided.

* * *

**Please review! **


	4. Quidditch and Pranks

**Marauder Memories: **

**Chapter Four: Quidditch and Pranks**

* * *

James munched on a few bits of cereal, glancing at Cherish's head which was barely visible over the _Daily Prophet. _He began to stab sausages and put them on his plate next to his bowl of cereal.

"You're going to the match, right?" James asked, glancing at her for confirmation as he began cutting up his sausages.

Cherish lowered the _Prophet _enough that he could meet her eyes for a brief instant. She took at a large gulp of juice and then nodded, "I believe so."

Next to him, Sirius was half-awake as he swallowed down scrambled eggs on toast. Remus was continually nudging him at odd intervals, whenever he felt like Sirius looked too much like he would keel over into his eggs.

"Cheer up, Sirius," Cherish nudged him under the table. He jerked up, looking dazed and exhausted. "We'll flatten Ravenclaw at any rate," she stole a glance at the Ravenclaw table

There was a large amount of chatter coming from that table. Cheers from people at the end of the Gryffindor table went up loudly as their own team appeared.

The Chasers were all girls with the same athletic build. They were tall with their hair tied back, except for one whose hair was cut very short in an almost boyish fashion. The Keeper was tough-looking though Cherish knew he was rather kind.

The Seeker was one of the youngest, a Fourth Year with not as broad of shoulders and bright hazel eyes. The two beaters were fastening their gloves and glancing around at the fellow Gryffindors as they ate their breakfast.

Lily was speaking with one of the youngest, a Third Year who had made Chaser only that year. She looked shaky and nervous, her sleek blonde hair was short and fell down to almost her shoulders, unlike the other two Chasers with their long hair.

"You'll do great," Lily assured the girl before she set a bowl of cereal in front of the girl. Catching the look the girl gave her, she suddenly sounded stern, "You've got to eat Violet. You're going to play brilliantly, you'll need your strength."

The girl, true to her name had her short blonde hair colored a slight dark violet. She looked as though someone had dropped a paint can of violet paint onto her hair. Cherish rose and moved down the table to speak with the girl.

"Good luck Violet, you'll do fine," Cherish said approvingly.

The girl twisted her hair nervously. "No I won't. Everyone's been telling me how horrifically I'll do. They say that Jace only picked me because I'm his best mate's sister." The girl was playing the last match of the season, filling in for another Chaser who had been cursed by one of the opposing team's players.

Cherish glanced at Jace, one of the Beaters and Quidditch Captain. She didn't let her smile waver, "After they see you play today they won't be saying that anymore."

She rose, wished Violet good luck again and made her way back to James. Peter had arrived, offering her a small smile. A different Chaser, Jackie had moved in to take Cherish's place in assuring Violet.

"That was nice of you," Peter piped up as he gazed at Violet and Jackie.

Cherish gave him a weak smile. "I barely know her. I just though since she's new on the team and this is her first match-"

"You have a heart as big as London, you know that?" James asked her in a sort of half-exasperated way.

Cherish laughed. "Oh shut it," she shook her head at him. "Let's go down to the pitch, yeah? I want to get good seats," she pulled James up with Sirius and Peter trailing.

Remus sighed, following reluctantly. He would have much rather read in the library until the Quidditch game was over however, Sirius and James were both equally insisted that he had to go.

Cherish merely gave him a sheepish grin, then half-rolled her eyes as if to say _Quidditch, what can you do?_

James and Sirius picked the seats, trying many different angles and different benches until they deemed one suitable. Cherish sat down next to Remus, putting Peter between herself and the two boys who were already deep in a discussion about Quidditch.

She flipped open her bag, dug inside it for a moment and extracted a book. It was a novel that Remus had suggested, having half read it himself. She handed it over, "I thought you might prefer it."

He took it with a grateful look. "Thanks, Cher," he flipped open the cover, scanned the table of contents and quickly immersed himself in the book.

Cherish leaned on Remus, reading intently over his shoulder as the stands filled up around them. Many Gryffindors had brought flags or banners to support their team.

Madam Chasta was walking out onto the Quidditch Pitch, looking up at the stands and then behind her as the Quidditch teams trooped onto the field.

"The weather's perfect," James was saying to Sirius and Peter. "Sunny, no clouds and it's not too hot out-"

Sirius cut in quickly, "See, that's Davies over there. He's not got the build at all-he's skinny, no muscle at all and that's what Beaters need, right? I dunno how Dawson expects him to be able to aim a bludger properly at all," he was pointing out a thin, lanky boy who was holding the Beater's bat awkwardly.

"Quiet, the lot of you," came a voice from behind them. Cherish looked to see Lily sitting in the row behind them. She flashed Cherish a smile but then glared at the two boys who were already back to talking animatedly about the different players.

* * *

"Remus," Cherish pulled the book out of his hands and whipped it behind her back before he could grab it. "Come on, join the party. Have a pasty," she held out a Pumpkin Pasty to him. "We won by nearly a hundred points out there."

He took it, tearing off the wrapper and taking a large bite. "Thanks, Cher," he hesitated looking around the busy Common Room. "But I don't think I will. I don't like parties much."

Cherish smiled warmly, "Dance with me," she requested, setting the book on a side table and taking Remus's hands.

Remus protested, "Really, Cher. I don't think-" but Cherish had already managed to pull him up despite his protests.

"It's because you look bored," Cherish insisted. "You need to get out more."

Remus followed her reluctantly to the dance floor and she took both his hands, spinning them around. "Cherish," he spun with her, looking around wildly. I'm getting dizzy," he was barely able to keep up with her as she spun them around again, laughing.

Laughing, she let him go. "You want a drink?" she motioned to the table of food and drink.

He nodded, tottering slightly as he tried to follow her. She snatched up an unopened butterbeer and handed it over. It was ice cold and very refreshing, almost like slush. "Where are the two troublemakers?" she asked, popping open her own butterbeer and downing a gulp.

"Who?" Remus asked as he took another swig of butterbeer, wiping his brow.

"Sirius and James," she managed to make herself heard over the music.

Remus gestured toward the fireplace where Sirius and James were talking with Violet. The girl looked as though she was giving them a blow-by-blow account of what was happening. She made gestures with her hands, swooping and then miming catching the quaffle, passing the quaffle and scoring.

"And I had just dodged Davies's bludger," she was saying as they walked closer, "So I knew I had a clear shot."

James took a large gulp of Pumpkin juice and spoke, "I want to make the team next year."

Violet perked up, "What position do you want to play?"

"Chaser," James replied instantly.

"Beater," Sirius answered at the same time.

Cherish sat down next to James. Sirius was grinning at his best mate, and Violet was smirking.

"Good luck beating me at tryouts," she teased.

James shrugged. "I don't need to beat you. Jamie's a Seventh Year, she won't be here to play Chaser next year," he motioned to the brunette who was chatting with Cliff Davies.

"You're young," she said quietly, giving them a sort of twisted smile like she knew something they didn't. "But you'd make out to be a good Chaser. And you, you'd probably be a fine Beater."

"I'd like to make the team," Cherish confessed after a moment, glancing at the boys and then Violet. " I don't think I have the skill it takes to be a Chaser though. No aim and I'd get clobbered by the other team."

Violet stared at her for a long moment thoughtfully. "You might make a fair Seeker," she allowed.

"Thanks Violet," James looked a bit more hopeful about making the team now.

Cherish looked around and spotted Remus who had now dragged Peter up toward the dancefloor.

She smiled then looked toward James, "Enough Quidditch talk, come on you two," she took them each by the hand and pulled them after her.

James hesitated and Sirius tried to pull away but she dragged them toward Remus and Peter. She took turns, James spun her around in a circle and gave her a quick hug. Sirius finally relaxed and swooped in to kiss her on one cheek right before Remus took both her hands and spun them around.

He twirled her until she laughed, and then he laughed with her until they cried. She held her hand out to Peter but he seemed reluctant so instead she spun James around, he executed a twirl, tripped over his own feet and grabbed onto Sirius which dragged them all to the ground.

Despite the people talking loudly around them, the flash of the dancers swirling around them, the beat of the music and the pounding of her own head that told her she'd had too much butterbeer she heard his next words. James leaned in, pressing his mouth to her ear and whispered, "We'll always be like this. It's never gonna change."

Cherish turned to look at him, then thought she must have imagined the flash in his eyes because the next moment he had pulled Remus down to fall across her legs, and Peter was trying to help Sirius up.

She laughed, picking herself up off the floor and looking at them. "You four..." she murmured and shook her head, trying to find the right words.

Sirius said something, and suddenly sparks shot out of the end of his wand, erupting in beautiful fireworks. James, Remus and Peter all followed his lead and shot fireworks toward the Common Room's ceiling.

People cheered and some older students joined in, setting off more fireworks.

A few people looked on, glaring darkly at the four first years but most smiled or cheered loudly.

Over the noise James looked toward Cherish who was smiling, she stepped back and clapped along with the crowd but he heard her next words. "You're hooligans, nothing but a bunch of marauders," even as she shook her head at them she smiled.

* * *

James lounged on the couch, looking bored even as he hung upside down with his hair touching the floor. He lifted his head to look at the ceiling and let out a heavy sigh.

Sirius lay next to him, in a similar position and he was looking equally bored.

"I'm bored," Sirius announced unnecessarily. Cherish looked up, flicking a piece of lint off of her robes. "Let's play on the Quidditch field then," she placed a chessman down carefully.

Peter stared decisively at the board before he made his own move.

"It's nice out, come on," she looked pleadingly at James. He held her gaze for a moment and sighed, she beamed, knowing that she'd won.

"All right," James agreed, getting up reluctantly and brushing himself off.

Sirius hesitated, then he pulled himself up and followed James's lead. Remus peered up at them from a letter he was writing to his parents. He began rolling it up and screwed the cap back onto his ink pot. Peter organized his chess set and then scooped the chessmen into a holding compartment in the chessboard.

Cherish slung one arm over James's shoulders and the other over Sirius's shoulders. When neither shoved her away she continued to walk in that fashion to the Entrance Hall. Peter caught up with them with Remus trailing slowly behind.

"I'll race you," Cherish dropped her arms from their shoulders and broke into a sprint.

With Sirius hot on her heels she ran for the Quidditch Pitch. She didn't look it, but she was incredibly fast. But so was James who was already passing Sirius and was even with her.

She glanced toward him as they reached the Quidditch Pitch and James passed her, effectively beating her and skidding to a stop. But Cherish didn't stop, she bowled him right over and they fell onto the grass.

"James is on my team," Sirius claimed as he came to a stop in front of the two wrestling on the grass.

Cherish pulled herself free and looked up at him. "There's not enough of us for a team," she pointed out as she flopped down onto the grass on her back.

"We could just fly around," James said as he sat up and brushed grass off of himself. Sirius and James took off to raid the school broom closet.

Cherish opened her mouth to protest it was locked when Remus appeared. Peter was panting hard, his stubby little legs carrying him as fast as he could manage. Remus looked tired and a bit windswept but otherwise had managed the sprint fairly well.

Between the two of them James and Sirius returned clutching Cleansweep 5's and two Comet 140's that looked a bit battered and worn but otherwise okay. Cherish mounted her broom like James had taught her and kicked off, soaring above them with ease.

Sirius was next, flying up past her he stopped and looked around the clear skies. Remus was next, he seemed a bit uncomfortable in the air but had managed to fly just how Madam Chasta had taught them in their flying lessons. Remus was quick to balance on the broom and spent a few moments testing his turns again.

Peter was still on the ground with his feet firmly on the ground. Cherish noted that he'd never quite gotten the hang of flying. James hadn't taken off even though he knew perfectly well how to fly.

"Just take off lightly-don't lean too far to one side or you'll fall off," James explained, standing next to Peter and seeming to be unusually patient.

Peter twisted first one way and then another to get situated. He tried to take off, panicked and nearly fell off before he placed both feet back on the ground fearfully.

"Trust me," James held onto the handle and looked Peter in the eye. "I won't let you fall off."

Peter did as he was told, and hovered while James mounted his own broomstick. "Now, pull up on the handle a bit to go higher or down to go lower," James instructed.

Peter did as he was told and flew several feet higher, with James letting go of the broom and watching him carefully.

"Good, now don't turn too sharply and you should be fine, a firm turn is good. If you turn too hard you could fall off on these school brooms," James said after he took off on his own broom.

Peter turned a few times, flying higher and found he wasn't so bad.

Above, Cherish threw herself into a dive and narrowly missed Sirius. He spun around and feigning anger he chased her half across the Pitch.

"Oy! Catch!" James called to her. Cherish spun around sharply just in time as James threw a large, bright red ball at her. She caught it and then took off with it tucked under her arm with all four boys flying after her.

Sirius and James were easily the best, jostling her and trying to steal the ball from her. She could tell they were curbing their strength so they wouldn't accidentally knock her off her broom or hurt her.

Remus only darted forward a handful of times, seeming extremely unwilling to push her around. Peter was either very bad or his borrowed broom was too slow to catch up to Cherish.

After several minutes James swooped in, nearly rolled her off her broom and stole the quaffle. The moment he stole it Sirius and Cherish were upon him. Remus knocked his shoulder against James's on one side, and Peter had to roll out of the way when Sirius passed James and then suddenly turned around.

Sirius stole it and they were off again, chasing one another.

Two hours later they touched down after a particularly vicious fight over the quaffle between Sirius and Jaames. Sirius was panting, having chased James for nearly ten minutes straight.

Remus, Peter and Cherish had all quit trying an hour ago and instead were flying in circles around the Quidditch Pitch. Peter's landing was unsteady but he was smiling happily as the rest when he got off his broom. Remus looked rather worn out but Sirius and James were still full of energy.

"If we hurry we might be able to scrap together a prank before nightfall," James said as they shoved the brooms back into the storage cupboard.

"Come on," Sirius motioned anxiously, "We'd better hurry up or we'll miss supper," he turned and ran full pelt toward the castle.

James ran a ways and then dropped back to walk beside Cherish. For awhile they were quiet as he matched his pace to hers then threw his arm around her and hugged her briefly as they walked.

"What do you think of Sirius?" James asked casually.

Cherish looked at him, startled. He stared back and then tilted his head towards Sirius who was vanishing into the castle. He sounded as though it was or no real importance but she could see through it. He truly wanted her opinion.

She hesitated, tasting her words before she spoke, "I rather like him. He's nice, funny, smart...why do you ask?"

James shrugged and then looked toward Remus. "And Remus?" he asked looking fondly at his friends.

Cherish looked at Remus and couldn't help but smile. "He's quiet, shy, very talented and he's studious-something you aren't," she told him with a nudge. She paused to think, "I've grown fond of him. He's sweet. Much more charming than you," she teased lightly.

He threw her a mock glare and then flashed a grin. He nodded towards Peter wordlessly.

Cherish hummed softly to herself. "He's...nice," even she could hear the hesitation in her voice.

James did not turn to look at her, but the glance he stole was unmistakable. "You don't like him," he stated rather bluntly.

"No," she replied a little too quickly. James threw her a skeptical look and raised one eyebrow. "Well," she faltered and chose her words carefully. "I do like him, I just don't know him all that well."

James said nothing, only stared at the castle. He stopped walking for a moment and then looked her in the eye and sighed.

"He's very nice. I like playing chess with him, Exploding Snap too, even though he nearly always wins. I just don't know much else about him. He's studious. He's no good at Charms, a bit like me. But he's good in most of his other subjects with a bit of help," she continued to fill the silence.

James sighed again and kept walking. "Peter is likable enough. He just doesn't seem too keen on knowing you either, I think he prefers male company," James glanced at her hastily. "Maybe you should talk to him like you do with Remus and Sirius."

Cherish whirled around to stare at him, her eyes wide in surprise.

He gave a small smile and then shrugged. "I've seen you talk to them. Sirius treats you a bit like a sibling, like a sister he's never had. Sort of like I do. Remus is fond of you, I think you're one of his best friends. I'm glad you're friends with them."

"I don't know how to talk to Peter like Remus and Sirius. I mean, Remus and I have things in common. We study together sometimes and read with each other. Sirius is so like you it would be hard not to get along with him," she said thoughtfully. "But Peter...what do I have to talk with him about? I hardly ever play chess and to be honest I couldn't be friends with him only for that."

"Try," James requested.

"But-" she began to protest.

"For me?" James asked, looking at her with a pleading expression similar to the one she'd given him.

"For you," she murmured and then repeated his own words, "Anything."

He grinned. "Come on, before Sirius eats everything. We'll plan the prank during dinner."

* * *

"I've got the dungbombs," Sirius hissed as they made their way down to the dungeons.

"Peter, you stand watch over that corridor," James gestured to one, and then motioned Cherish to the other. "Cher, you guard the other one."

"James, are you sure about this?" Cherish asked even as she turned her gaze down the corridor he'd instructed.

"We've done this more times than you think," Sirius said from where he stood.

Cherish almost turned to speak, then remembered her post. Instead she fixed her gaze on the hall and kept her voice low. "And if we get caught?"

James was muttering words to the stone wall, trying to force it to open. "We have been, that's why we've got detention next week."

"Hurry up, will you?" Sirius said into the darkness. "Otherwise we'll be here until tomorrow morning."

Cherish silently agreed but didn't think she should say so. They'd been there at least ten minutes according to her watch, any longer and they risked being caught by the new caretaker. Argus Filch was a young, rather strict and moody looking man, often seen prowling around with a slight hunch in his back and muttered unintelligibly under his breath as he cleaned the halls.

Although Professor Dumbledore had banned caning, Cherish was sure that Filch would come up with some kind of awful punishment for them if he caught them.

"I can't get the password right," James retorted, rather irritated by now.

"Serpent," Cherish suggested without looking behind her.

"Pureblood," Peter's voice came from the dimly lit dungeons.

"True blood," Sirius hissed even as he held the dungbombs at the ready.

Something clicked, the wall shifted and opened. James hid himself against the wall beside the entrance. _Now_ he mouthed to Sirius. Somehow, even in the dim light Sirius saw the signal.

He hurtled the dungbombs forward, then he ran not even pausing to look where they hit. James was right behind him. "Run!" James recommended as loudly as he dared. Peter and Cherish both bolted, running down the corridor Cherish had been guarding.

They didn't pause for breath until they'd put at least four floors between themselves and the dungeons. Cherish was laughing, and threw her arms over Sirius's and James's shoulders again.

"Where's Remus?" she asked, realizing she hadn't seen him since supper.

"He went to visit his mum," James replied as they reached the portrait.

"Something about her being sick," Peter added, jumping over a trip stair.

"Fairy lights," Sirius told the Fat Lady and stepped into the Common Room.

* * *

"Pretty soon it'll be summer."

James was right, summer and Second Year were approaching far too quickly for her liking. Before she knew it, they were finished with their exams.

One glorious week of nothing except sunshine, playing by the lake, tussling in the grass and playing tag on the Quidditch Pitch.

Then they were packing their bags, Cleo found her missing shoes, and their exam results came back. Sirius and James scored fairly good marks, Cherish beating them both in Potions. Lily and Remus passed with some of the highest marks of First Years and Peter scraping good marks with his best in Herbology and Defense.

She looked around as they boarded the train, all four boys following her to a compartment. At first she'd been a bit intimidated by them but now the four boys surrounding her didn't scare her in the least.

James was busy swapping wizard cards with Peter who had unwrapped a couple new ones.

"I'll swap you Falco Aesalon for one of your Circe," James was saying.

"I've already got five of him, I'll swap you one of Gringott for it though," Peter said. James held up a different card with a rich goblin on it.

Peter scrutinized the card before agreeing.

Remus was chewing thoughtfully on a Sugar Quill, one of the last from the bunch he'd received for Christmas as he wrote a letter home.

Cherish chewed on her own eagle feather quill, thinking hard as she looked around at the four. It was surprising, after only a year she felt rather unwilling to leave any one of them.

Sirius was examining a few of James's Chocolate Frog Cards, flipping them over to read about the famous witch or wizard and occasionally reading them aloud.

Cherish nibbled on pumpkin pasties, reading a letter from her parents before folding it up and placing it in her novel. "My mum said I could invite you all over during the summer."

James looked up from his examination of Godric Gryffindor to look at her. "Yeah, my parents said something similar."

Remus continued to chew on his Sugar Quill but Cherish could tell from the slight tilt of his head he was listening. Peter was still examining Agrippa, but he nodded.

"I'll come over," Remus mumbled after he removed the quill from his mouth.

Peter nodded eagerly. "I'd love to see where you live," he was looking at James and Cherish so it was hard to tell who he was talking to.

"We could all go to James's, he has a much nicer mansion," Cherish said. James flushed pink but made no move to deny it.

"I want to see the horses, anyhow," she added when James looked like he might suggest the Meadowes Mansion instead of the Potter's Mansion.

James snorted. "If I let you see the horses, we'll never find you again."

Cherish rolled her eyes with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth full of pasty. "I'd like to see Ava," she mumbled when she had swallowed.

James looked at her for a long moment. "You know she's going to have her baby soon."

Sirius, Remus and Peter were ignoring the exchange, Sirius looking through more cards with Peter and Remus selecting a handful of licorice wands.

Cherish smiled. "I know. I want to see her."

James hesitated, looking as though he was debating telling her. "Mum said you can have her foal when it's older," he chewed his lip nervously as he watched her.

"Really?" She looked pleased, clapping her hands together twice and jumping up to hug him. "I don't know if mum and dad would let me keep it," she shook her head and continued to hug him. "It doesn't matter, we're almost there now, come on we'd better all change."

The boys nodded, slipping their robes off and leaving them in muggle attire. Remus and Peter helped their friends blend in, instructing them to lose the ties and cloaks.

All dressed in t-shirts and jeans they filed off the train, stuffing their pockets with the remaining sweets. James and Sirius helped the other three with their trunks, James handing Cherish her trunk and then Peter.

Cherish threw her arms around them each in turn. "You'd better come over, all of you," she threw a pointed look at Peter and Remus.

Remus nodded, still rather quiet. Peter smiled, this time a true smile without his usual nervousness. Sirius hugged her enthusiastically. James caught a glimpse of him whispering something to Cherish but only grinned and turned back to hug Peter. He wasn't worried about them anymore.

Remus held out his hand for Cherish to shake, she laughed, took it and then pulled him into a hug.


	5. Summer Nights

**Marauder Memories**

**Chapter Five: Summer Nights**

_"A serious girl, when she finds someone who calms her spirit and quiets her busy thoughts, will love you so fiercely it will defy even her own logic and reasoning." ~Unknown_

* * *

Cherish lay on her bed organizing all of her things from school. Now that they no longer needed to be packed away in her trunk for several months she was able to see what she had.

She threw a few sets of clothes into one pile; they were either too small or needed to be washed. She had stacked all of her schoolbooks into a messy pile next to her bookshelf which was already crammed with as many books as she could fit on the small shelves.

She had discovered just how many quills she had—many of them broken or bent beyond repair had gone straight into the wastebasket. All the still-usable ones were lying on her desk next to several rolls of parchment that she'd managed to salvage or were still brand new.

She picked up another bottle of ink, made sure the cap was still secured, and then placed it on her desk. Her desk by now was nearly overflowing with school supplies.

She folded another set of robes and put them in her wardrobe. "I really have too much stuff," she declared as she scraped some lint out of the bottom of her trunk. "Well, at least that's done."

She plucked a book off of her bed and examined the cover. It read _Katherine _in peeling gold print, a novel that Remus had lent her. It was a rather interesting adventure story that she'd almost finished. She reminded herself to return the book when she next saw Remus and bent to scribble the reminder hastily on a spare piece of parchment.

A sharp tapping alerted her to the window. Outside an owl perched on her windowsill. She hurried over to open the window and allow the owl to swoop in and land on a perch near her window. It ruffled its feathers and clicked its beak at her, holding out its leg so she could untie the scroll.

She offered it a pan of water to drink—it gulped the refreshing liquid gratefully as she read the scroll.

She flattened it out, recognizing James's untidy handwriting within seconds.

_Cher,_

_Ava had her foal last night. You'd do better to wait a couple days but I know you're not that patient. So come visit. I've invited Remus, Peter, and Sirius too._

_My mum said tomorrow works for her and you can stay a few days if you'd like._

_Send me your answer soon,_

_James_

A photo fell out as well, Cherish picked it up and looked at it. In the photo she could see Ava, a young mare with a reddish brown coat and white star on her forehead, sniffing over a long-legged foal that was nearly a replica of his mother.

Smiling, she taped it to the cabinets above her desk and then made her way downstairs.

She was bursting with excitement when she reached the kitchen. Her mother was in the kitchen already, bread laid out and all the fixings for chicken sandwiches on the counter.

The house elf, Sena, bobbed nearby as she popped a scrumptious looking roast in the oven.

"Cherish," her mother looked surprised but continued to cut the chicken into thin slices. Her mother was young, only about 35 with similar blonde hair to her daughter, soft blue eyes and a warm smile.

"Mum, look," she held the letter out to her mother.

Her mother paused, wiped her hands on her apron and read over the letter. She handed it back, smiling, "So you want to go to James's house tomorrow. Wash those tomatoes, will you?"

"Yes," Cherish nodded and took the tomatoes, washing them quickly. "He said if he can, he'll try to get his dad to let me have Ava's foal." She patted the tomatoes dry and lay them on the cutting board.

Her mother's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh, really?" Her mother handed her a sharp knife and set to cutting up cheese.

"Mhm," Cherish began to slice the tomatoes. She was slower than her mother, not as accurate and precise but her mother insisted that she was learning and it would take time.

"And where would you keep the horse?" her mother asked, grabbing a slice of tomato from Cherish and finishing one sandwich.

"I don't know," Cherish admitted after a moment. "We could build a barn," she suggested hopefully.

Her mother shook her head. "I don't think so young lady. The horse can be yours when you go to the Potters but it stays there."

Cherish nodded. "I suppose that's okay."

Her mother shook her head, swallowing her bite of sandwich. "Now, do you feel up to helping me make a batch of cookies after lunch?"

Cherish nodded, "Yes, please."

* * *

Her bag was packed, this time with her usual wizard robes and Remus's novel.

"Be careful now," her mother warned as she held out the flowerpot of Floo powder.

"Mum, I'm not going to a stranger's house. It's just the Potter's Mansion," Cherish objected.

"Cherish, listen to your mother," her father's voice came from the kitchen.

"Yes, father. I will, mum," she said.

"Don't get lost," her mother continued.

"I won't," Cherish said even as she bit back a retort.

"If you play Quidditch don't fly too high," her mother reminded her.

"I won't, mum," she twiddled her fingers impatiently.

"And-"

"Mum," Cherish interrupted. "I'll be fine. Can I go now?"

"I suppose, dear," her mother seemed rather reluctant. "Just be careful." She bent down to give her daughter a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before Cherish took a pinch of Floo powder, shouted "Potter Mansion," and vanished in a flash of fire.

She stepped out onto the deep red and black decorated rug of the Potters. Behind her the emerald flames crackled and died in the fireplace.

Mrs. Potter poked her head out of the kitchen and smiled. She was older than Cherish's mother by several years, the corners of her eyes crinkled a bit when she smiled and Cherish could see the laugh lines along her mouth. Her short brown hair didn't reach her shoulders yet and was just beginning to show its gray streaks. However her warm hazel eyes hadn't lost their lovely sparkle Cherish had come to love.

"Hello, Mrs. Potter," she greeted as she walked toward the kitchen.

"Hello, dear," she turned to look up the staircase, frowning slightly. "I've told you before, it's Dorea." She led Cherish into the kitchen.

She turned to the house elf who had now pulled out a recipe book and had turned to a page with Sweet Rolls written across the top. "Cherry, can you go fetch James for me?"

The house elf nodded, there was a pattering of feet as it ran up the stairs and vanished.

"What are the sweet rolls for, Mrs. Po-Dorea?" she corrected hastily at a glance from Dorea Potter.

"For James's friends whenever the rest of them get here. That should be him now," she added as there was the pattering of feet and a different set of heavier footsteps.

Cherish spotted him before he reached the kitchen. He'd grown at least two inches in the month that she'd missed him. He pulled her into a hug before letting go and studying her at arm's length.

"You've gotten taller," he remarked swiftly.

"So have you," she pointed out.

He grinned and then turned to his mother. "Mum, can we go to the stables?"

His mother didn't even glance up from adding flour to a large mixing bowl. "I suppose."

"Yes!" James grabbed her hand and whisked her away before she could say anything else. Once outside he ran several paces before dropping back to walk beside her, though she could still detect a slight bounce in his step.

"How is she?" Cherish asked as they walked across the gravel path toward the stables. The barn was a light green, with five stalls and a large pasture.

The pasture was a rich green, already Cherish could see one horse was grazing. When they approached the horse trotted up, ears pricked in interest.

Cherish walked up to the gate, holding out her hand for the mare to sniff. "Hey, Chip," she scratched the horse behind his ears and patted his neck before following James into the barn.

James led her to the last stall and Cherish gasped. "Ava!" The horse lifted its head to look at her, ears flicking forward and eyes flashing in recognition. The foal at her side wasn't the same shade of red, instead it was now a fiery red with the same black legs, mane and tail as its mother.

"He's a beauty," she asked as she unlached the gate and let them in. Cherish greeted the mare and then reached out to touch the foal. It lifted its bright brown eyes to her and then stretched out its neck to nuzzle her hand.

"What have you named him?" she asked as James joined her, holding a lead rope.

"We haven't, he's yours, remember?" he pointed out as he clipped the lead to Ava's halter.

"He's a few days old, he ought to have a name by now," Cherish said as she left the stall first, with James behind her leading the mare and foal.

The colt trotted at his mother's side for part of the way, and then he kicked up his heels and ran several paces then stopped dead in his tracks. His head lifted and he let out a shrill whinny before spinning around and running back to his mother.

He pranced at his mother's side, head still held high in the air and tail flapping. "He's a feisty little rascal," Cherish commented as James released them into a smaller paddock.

"You should name him," James said as he sat up on the gate, swinging his legs back and forth as he spoke.

"I can't do that, Ava's your horse," Cherish shook her head defiantly, "You name him."

"He's going to be your horse," James argued. "Just give him a name."

"I couldn't, Ava's your horse and you should name the foal," Cherish refused, glaring at him stubbornly.

"Fine," James agreed after a moment. "But I want your input."

She hesitated then decided this was the best she'd get. "All right," she mused, "I would name him Starfire. He's got that little star on his forehead just like his mother. His coat is like fire after all."

"I like it," James declared after a moment.

"James! Cherish!" Cherish and James whirled around at the sound. Running down the gravel path was Sirius, Remus and Peter. Sirius was now the tallest of the three, with Remus and Peter panting to keep up with his long strides.

"You made it!" Cherish squealed, leaping off the gate and breaking into a sprint toward her friends.

She reached Sirius first, he tackled her in a hug that nearly carried her off her feet. As soon as Sirius let go, Remus pulled her into a hug.

"I believe you still have my book," he said in his usual quiet voice.

"I do," Cherish replied. "I'll give it back, I'm done with it now."

Remus turned to greet James and Cherish turned back to Sirius. "How has your summer been so far?"

Sirius shrugged in a nonchalant way. "My parents nearly threw a fit when they got me home. But it's all water under the bridge now," he said referring to his being sorted into Gryffindor.

Something about his tone and his eyes told her that not all was fine but Cherish didn't press him on the topic.

"So this is where James lives?" Sirius asked, looking around and seeming almost impressed. "It reminds me of my aunt's mansion except for the horses. My aunt hates animals."

She turned and showed them Ava and the foal. Sirius looked sorely disappointed by the lack of teeth, claws or anything else that would make the horse dangerous.

"He's so small," Sirius stated critically as he stared at the colt.

Cherish looked rather offended. "He'll grow. He's going to be a star jumper, like his father," she said fondly.

Sirius shrugged indifferently. "I've got an owl, he's dead useful," Sirius glanced at the horse again. "Nothing like that little thing."

Cherish rolled her eyes, glancing at Starfire over her shoulder. "We'll show him," she told the colt as James led them back to the barn. "When you're big and strong we'll show him."

James approached a different paddock, this one large and spacious with thicker wood making up the fence line.

"We can't go in," James warned the others as he pulled himself up on the light blue metal gate. The others followed and sat alongside him. Cherish picked at the rusting metal and then looked at the animals.

"Hippogriffs," Sirius said in amazement.

Remus was silent, staring at the beasts with wide eyes. "I thought they were monitored by the Ministry. How did your parents manage to raise them?"

James shrugged. "My parents have always raised them. My dad mostly, but now he's an Auror so he has less time. My dad looks after them but they mostly fend for themselves. We raise them for the Ministry, they send them out when they're older and usually they send them different places."

James let his friends watch the Hippogriffs for several minutes then swung his legs over the fence and jumped down. "Come on, we'll visit the lake," he gestured toward a trail through the high grasses.

Cherish leapt down, urging the others to follow her. The lake was smaller than the Black Lake at Hogwarts, but it was just as pretty with clear water that sparkled in the sun.

James hesitated and then began to undo his shoes and pull off his shirt before the others caught up to him.

"Sirius!" James barked, gesturing to the dock. Sirius took off his shoes and shirt, his eyes lit up and the pair sprinted to the end of the dock and with a large splash they landed in the lake.

They surfaced and began to swipe water at one another.

"Come in, Peter!" Sirius shouted, ducking under the water as James aimed a large wave of water at him.

Peter shook his head fiercely. Remus was taking off his shoes but instead of jumping in he merely sat on the end of the dock and dipped his feet in.

Cherish slipped off her own shoes and copied Remus, sitting next to him.

"Aw, where's your Gryffindor courage?" Sirius teased from the water. Peter hesitated and then took off his shoes and jumped into the water, sputtering at he surfaced and swam out to where Sirius was.

Remus watched with a curious sort of smile on his face.

"Why don't you join them?" Cherish asked, watching as Sirius nearly dragged James under the water and then let him up a second later before he could drown.

Remus wrinkled his nose in distaste. "I've never been much of a swimmer. Besides, I don't fancy getting wet."

Cherish ran one foot through the water. "I like the water. It's peaceful and calm. It's nice."

Remus was silent as he watched Sirius begin a game of water tag. James was chasing after Sirius, trying to catch the other boy was like trying to catch a fish though, Sirius merely dove under the water and out of sight. "You know, you never told me what your soul animal would be, that day by the Black Lake," Remus pointed out fairly.

"Oh," Cherish looked at him, rather startled. She recalled the conversation almost perfectly. "Hm, well I think I'd like to be a dove." She leaned back and put her hands behind her head, staring up at the sky.

Remus chuckled in amusement. "Don't you think that's a little too predictable?"

Cherish shrugged. "It's all based on my personality, isn't it?" she asked and he nodded. "So what do you see when you look at me then?"

Remus hesitated, studying her for a long moment. Then he turned his gaze out to the water, squinting slightly as he spoke, "I think you're a very sweet, loving, selfless person. You're too good to people who aren't good to you. You're faithful, very kind and extraordinarily talented," he smiled at her. "You're one of my best friends, Cher," he then sounded thoughtful, "I see you as more of a swan...or a horse."

"A horse?" Cherish asked, her eyes wide and startled.

"Mhm," Remus bent over to flick a piece of seaweed off his foot. "You're patient, kind, nonviolent," Remus ticked things off on his fingers as he listed them out loud.

Cherish opened her mouth to protest only to close it without making a sound.

Remus splashed his legs in the water and looked down at her. "Would you think less of me if I asked...what do you see when you look at me?"

Cherish looked up at him, her eyes narrowed as she tried to see him clearly. She held her hand up to block the sun and squinted at him for a second. She took in his soft golden eyes, the strands of light brown hair that fell into his face, his torn and patched up robes and his hesitant expression. "I see you as a wolf."

He started badly, jerking around to stare at her, his eyes widening in surprise and she thought she detected a flash of fear in his eyes. "What?" he sounded almost choked.

She tilted her head to the sky and smiled. "You're good and kind, but you're also fierce and loyal, you're steadfast, honest, you have a good heart. But you're quiet, watchful," she tilted her head to look at him.

"Remus, Cherish!" Sirius was swimming towards them, nearly to the dock. "Help me," he had reached the dock.

Remus and Cherish both leaned down and helped haul Sirius onto the dock. He sat up and shook his head in a dog-like fashion as he sat on the dock. James clambered out of the water, flopping onto his back as he tried to catch his breath. Both Sirius and James turned to help Peter out when he reached the dock.

"What are we going to do later?" Cherish asked as James gathered his clothes.

"What do you mean?" he asked, the question muffled by him pulling his shirt on over his head.

"For fun, what are we going to do?" she asked as he stopped trying to shove his head through and arm-hole pulled his head through the head-hole.

"Oh, I have a plan," he replied his eyes twinkling with mischief.

Cherish stood up, picking up her sandals and waiting until Peter had done up his last lace before she shouted, "Last one back is a rotten egg!" and took off at a sprint.

She ran hard towards the faintly visible tip of the Potter Mansion that was above the trees. Remus was the first to register what she'd said and she could hear his footfalls and laughter behind her.

* * *

They were all full, drowsily talking as James and Cherish perched on James's bed and watched Sirius try to beat Peter at chess. James had two beds in his room for the occasion, one James's and a twin since James knew Cherish wouldn't want to share with anyone.

James's room was huge, with a bathroom attached and a small sitting area with a couch. He had Gryffindor banners pasted on a few of his walls, photographs of himself and his family and a few of his friends.

The two beds were neat yet simple, with royal blue sheets and many pillows on Cherish's, and dark red for James. Remus and Peter were going to kip on a mattress on the floor as neither of them had a problem sharing. James had made Sirius promise not to snore before reluctantly allowing Sirius to sleep in the same bed at him.

Cherish had a bed all to herself though the blankets were already messed up from their earlier games of tag. James had his room on the second floor, with a white-painted balcony that only led a few meters away from the house.

James crawled off his bed, leaping down lightly and tiptoeing over to his door. He paused for a long moment, listening for his father's snores that echoed through the house, only faintly heard from James's room.

"Excellent," he whispered as he closed the door with utter care. Turning to his friends he gestured for them to follow him. He swung the French doors open to lead out to the balcony.

Cherish followed him cautiously, he was carrying two thick blankets and a lantern. James turned around and quickly found what he was looking for. He picked up a sturdy packing box from his room and shoved it against the balcony railing.

"Sirius, help me," he hissed in the darkness. The two gathered more storage bins and stacked them on top of them.

"You're sure this is safe?" Cherish asked, looking doubtfully at the stack of boxes.

"I've done this hundreds of times," James assured her even as he climbed up on the railing, carefully walking along the railing he gave a quick hop onto the boxes, balanced for a moment and then was consumed by the night.

"All right, now throw the blankets up," he instructed Sirius. The dark-haired boy quickly handed up the blankets and then the lantern more carefully.

Cherish looked up, trying to pick James out from the darkness. Sirius was next, only hesitating on the railing once or twice and then he too vanished into the night.

"Sirius?" she whispered fearfully into the blackness.

He appeared just as quickly as he'd gone, grey eyes gleaming. He held a hand out to her, "Come on, Cher."

She hesitated, torn between keeping her feet on the balcony and participating in this. She made up her mind, clambering onto the railing with a bit more difficulty than they had, and stepping onto the boxes that wavered unsteadily under her.

She couldn't quite make out the roof but also hesitated to accept Sirius's offer.

She saw him grin in the darkness. "Ah, don't you trust me, Cher?"

She took his hand and let him pull her up onto the roof with him. James was already moving past her, silent as the night as he beckoned Remus and Peter up after her.

When they had all gathered, James picked up the blankets and moved up higher on the roof. He spread out the blankets and gestured for them to sit down as he himself lay down on the blankets.

"What do you see?" he asked as they all lay on their backs staring up at the night sky.

"Well," Remus's soft voice was the first to break the silence, "I see the Big Dipper. There's Orion, and Sirius," he pointed them out as he named them.

"The dog star," Cherish said softly.

Sirius cleared his throat almost nervously. "They named a star after me?"

Cherish smiled, "I wonder if there's anything else up there. You know, since muggles believe in aliens and everything."

"Or UFOs," Peter chimed in. "Which are usually some wizard out on a flying carpet or something. Flying motorbikes, cars, dragons, anything wizards can think of charming to fly."

"Flying motorcycles?" Sirius asked, sitting up abruptly. "Blimey, I'd like one."

James snorted in amusement. "Why don't you just get a nice broom?" he suggested.

Sirius huffed in annoyance, "I've already got a decent racing broom. But a motorcycle is cool. They're classy, fancy, a bit of flare, you know?"

"Because you don't have enough of that," Remus muttered under his breath sarcastically.

Cherish wondered idly how he even knew what a motorcycle looked like. Probably a muggle magazine he'd picked up, no doubt she told herself and rolled her eyes.

"What's that star right there?" she asked, pointing into the sky. Astronomy had never been her best subject, she found it rather dull and boring.

Peter looked to where she was pointing, "Hm? Oh, that's Ursa Major," he now pointed higher up in the sky. "Because see that right there, that's Sagittarius and the Big Dipper points to it."

Cherish pointed out the few stars she favored and the zodiac sign she was born under. Peter pointed out the stars he knew. At some point Sirius had named a few that his family was named after, then he sparked the conversation about motorcycles again.

James humored him and showed some enthusiasm although he himself didn't want a motorcycle.

It wasn't until nearly three o' clock in the morning when James tiredly led them back into his room. James crawled into his own bed, repeating his warning to Sirius about snoring before he himself collapsed and fell asleep.

Cherish lay silently listening to the others. She could hear Peter scuffling around to get comfortable and Remus's breathing had already evened out.

She tilted her head but didn't hear Sirius yet. Instead, a weight landed on the end of her bed. "Cher?" Sirius breathed as quietly as he could.

"Hm?" she responded, opening her eyes to meet his in the darkness.

"You know..." he trailed off looking towards James as he stirred. "I've got a little brother coming to Hogwarts this year."

"Oh, really?" Cherish couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. Sirius rarely talked about his family. "What's he like?"

"He's...he's a lot like my parents," Sirius admitted distastefully, "purists."

"Oh," Cherish twisted her sheets in concern. "I'm sorry, Sirius..."

Even in the darkness he knew he'd shrugged as though it didn't matter. "Do...do you think he'll end up in Slytherin?" he asked sounded a bit fearful despite the act he put on.

"For him, I would hope not," Cherish said softly. "But he might."

"They're worried he'll end up like me," Sirius confessed.

"Like you?" Cherish asked, as she began to braid her hair.

"He's supposed to end up in Slytherin and-" Sirius hesitated. "I'm worried about him."

"I'm sorry, Sirius," she paused in her braiding. "I really am."

"There's still hope, right?" he asked in a rather discouraged way.

"Yes," she replied although she couldn't force much confidence into it, tying off her braid with a hairband.

"And Cher?" the weight had left her bed and she could see his outline as he climbed onto the other side of James's bed.

"Hm?" She had already begun to curl up into a ball to sleep with the blankets bunched up around her.

"Thanks," it was so soft that she almost didn't catch it. She sat up, rather startled, and she met his eyes across the space between them.


	6. Girls Say

**Marauder Memories**

**Chapter Six: Girls Say**

**Thanks to SiriusBlackIsAwesome and Lilian Hope Black who beta-read this chapter for me. **

* * *

"You're sure you're all ready for school?" her mother fretted, making sure her tie was perfectly straight, her clothes all wrinkle-free and lint-free before she left.

"Mum, really," Cherish said in an exasperated tone, "We'll all be late if you don't let go," she tried to insist as gently as she could.

Her father poked his head back in the front door, startled to see his wife and daughter still standing there. "Hurry up, we have to beat the morning traffic, you know," he urged them. Cherish jumped, picked up her bag and fastened the strap across her chest so it sat at her hip. Her father picked up her trunk and her mother picked up her own purse before heading out the door.

"You know," her father said as he climbed into the car. "You're going to be gone for nearly a whole year. You'll be all grown-up by the time we see you again."

Cherish rolled her eyes, though not in an annoyed sort of way. "I know, dad. But really, you can't miss me that much. I write to you nearly every week."

"Only for the first few weeks," her mother put in. "After that we were lucky to get a letter every month."

"Your mother is right you know," her father said as he pulled out of their neighborhood and Cherish looked back. "You've already gotten taller than the last time we saw you, and you've already learned so much."

Her mother looked at her in a sad, proud sort of way.

"That's it, she's really gone," Petunia said to her new kitten that rested on a pillow. It was a fluffy white, with black splashes of color on its back, tail and legs. She stroked its head softly. "They're taking my little sister away...piece by piece, Widget."

The kitten gave a small meow, as though sympathizing with Petunia, licking her cheek as a tear ran down it. Petunia watched, ignoring the kitten who was now chewing on her blonde tresses, as the car pulled away from her house and disappeared around a bend in the road.

Her parents were happy, thrilled that their daughter was a witch. While Petunia didn't hate Lily, she was her sister after all, she did hate the wizarding world as her sister called it. They were stealing her little sister. The sister that had been her best friend.

Petunia hadn't really noticed it last year, Lily had always sent letters home by owl. The owls were large birds that tended to scare Petunia so she kept her distance from them. After all, they couldn't be all that nice, the way they clacked their beaks at her, staring at her with those large yellow eyes, then spread their wings and flew off again.

But Lily had still been her best friend. Until she returned from that school.

Petunia had dared to enter her sister's world, to greet her when the train came with her best friend again. But Lily had changed, she still looked the same of course, dark red hair and the same bright green eyes, but she no longer chattered about things Petunia understood. There were no night time chats about boys, how their frumpy math teacher gave too much homework, how someone had stuck gum in her hair and Petunia promised to stomp on their foot in revenge.

Lily talked of magic, how her Charms teacher simply loved her, how she was a natural at Potions, how her teachers simply raved about how gifted she was, how the castle glowed in the darkness, about the enchanted ceiling sparkled with a thousand stars, about how her dorm-mates had played a joke on a couple of boys before the end of school. All of it were things that muggles (non-magic folk she said) could only dream of.

Petunia didn't like it, not one bit. This place was stealing Lily's heart and mind, she simply loved the magic, while Petunia hated it for taking away her little sister. Now it would take her away again, how much of Lily would be left?

Lily on the other hand, could barely contain her happiness as her parents pulled into King's Cross Station. "Mum, I can't wait to go back. You can meet Mary, and Alice, Marlene's nice too, and Cherish. I'll get to see Sev again," her whole face glowed with happiness as she got out.

"I've never met Mary or this Cherish girl," her father said as he struggled to remove her trunk from the car.

"You'll love Mary she's nice. Cherish seems awfully nice too, she spends all her time with a couple of boys in my year, but she's all right," Lily shrugged and shook her head. "She's good at Charms though, she beats me in Transfiguration all the time."

"Marlene's right over there, daddy can I go say hi?" without waiting for a response from her father, who had located a trolley, Lily tore off in the direction of the other girl.

Marlene sprinted to Lily, nearly overthrowing the shorter girl as she hugged her enthusiastically. "Lily!" she stepped back. "You've cut your hair," she said critically, looking at Lily's hair that was cut to her shoulders now.

Mary joined them several minutes later. "Marlene! Lily! It's so good to see you," she smiled brightly, her grey eyes sparkling. "I've got so much to tell you, my parents and I went to France. It's beautiful there," she began but was cut off by the adults' laughter.

She shrugged. "Anyhow, we ought to grab a compartment while we still can." She gestured towards the train but Lily shook her head.

"I've got to find Cherish, my parents want to meet her. Do either of you know where she is?" Lily asked, craning her head up to try to see over the now bustling crowd around the train.

They both shook their heads. Lily sighed as she clambered up onto a nearby bench. "That girl," she muttered, scanning the thickening crowd for their last roommate.

Marlene steadied her own trunk and owl as she spoke. "I'd look for James if you want a chance at finding her."

"There she is," Lily said, jumping off the bench and sprinting into the crowd. She reappeared minutes later, clutching the arm of a rather flustered looking Cherish Meadowes. Although she wasn't fighting Lily, she was clearly asking why in Merlin's name she had to be dragged along.

"These are my parents," Lily said as she skidded to a stop in front of them. Marlene's parents were starting to gather up Marlene's bags and carry them towards the train. Mary was alone, Mr. McKinnon was helping though, hauling her trunk and owl cage after Marlene.

"Mum, dad, this is Cherish," Lily swept an arm to where Cherish stood.

Cherish stared, stunned at them for a moment before her manners kicked in. "It's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Evans," she held her hand out.

"It's lovely to meet you too, dear," Mrs. Evans shook her hand, "You'd best get moving though, the train leaves in ten minutes. Cherish nodded politely, smiled at Lily and then turned into the crowd again.

James watched for Cherish, trying to help Peter load his heavy trunk onto the train at the same time. James yelped out in alarm as the trunk swung towards his head, trying to duck under the object.

Cherish emerged and scrambled up into the train to help Peter pull the trunk. "Where's Sirius?" she asked, she and Peter falling backwards as the trunk suddenly lurched forwards.

"Dunno, but Remus said he'd grab us a compartment," James panted as he heaved the next trunk up. Between the three of them they managed to get all the trunks up and began to drag them down the aisle and searching for Remus.

James, who was in the front, called over his shoulder, "I see him." Cherish gave a tiny bounce, just able to glimpse Remus's brown hair a few more compartments along.

She nearly smashed into James's trunk when he stopped suddenly to let another boy into a compartment. "Watch it," she said as Peter nearly ran her trunk into the back of her legs.

"Sorry," Peter muttered hastily, trying to back up a few paces.

When they reached the compartment, James crammed his luggage into the racks and then turned to help Cherish and Peter who were too short to actually reach the luggage racks.

Peter fussed over his new owl, Bandit, who was dark brown with flecks of tan and large orange eyes.

"He's new," Cherish commented as she sat down, having not noticed his owl until now.

Peter nodded, "My mum got him for me for my birthday," he explained.

Remus had one of their newest textbooks raised, reading intently and only glanced up to acknowledge their presence now that they were in the compartment.

Cherish stood up to peer around at the students. James too, sat up on his heels and cast his gaze around anxiously.

"Oh, no..." Cherish quickly picked up her last Sunday Prophet and held it up in front of her face, sliding down into her seat. James had spotted the same thing and was now pulling out his deck of playing cards.

The compartment door slid open and Sirius entered with his trunk.

"Hello," Cherish greeted, trying to pretend she hadn't noticed the sixth member. The boy behind him was clearly his brother.

"Hullo," he replied, only after Sirius trod on his foot.

"Who are you?" Peter asked curiously, staring at the boy.

There was a brief pause in which Regulus stepped away to put his trunk with the others, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"This is Regulus," Sirius said shortly when it became clear Regulus wasn't going to introduce himself. "My brother."

He then turned to his brother. "These are my...friends." He hesitated as though waiting for Regulus to make a cruel remark. However, Regulus only gave a small nod of acknowledgment. "Cherish Meadowes, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and James Potter." He pointed them each out in turn.

Regulus narrowed his eyes critically but nodded politely.

"Oh, well, do you want to play a game of Exploding Snap?" Peter offered, holding out his own deck kindly.

Cherish tried to give him a warning look but Peter wasn't watching her. She turned her eyes to Regulus Black instead. Regulus was slightly shorter than Sirius and they shared many of the same features: the dark wavy hair, stormy grey eyes, the high cheekbones, sharply defined jaw and noble air about them.

Cherish dropped her gaze back to her newspaper and chanced a glance sideways at Remus. Although he held his book up, his eyes did not move along the page.

Sirius sat down, looking uncharacteristically tense and uncomfortable.

"I'll play a game of chess," James said although no one had offered. Peter rose to grab his board and James showed more enthusiasm than he normally would have as they began to set up the board.

Regulus still stood by the door, only moving when Peter finally suggested he close the door and sit down. Regulus filed over to set his trunk with Sirius's and then sat down awkwardly to watch the chess game.

Peter nudged his white pawn with more force than necessary, James took a lot longer than usual to push his own black pawn out. They all exchanged glances for the next couple hours. Cherish got the distinct impression that James wasn't paying attention and Peter was only doing this for Sirius's benefit.

Remus was still buried in his textbook, now underlining key passages with green colored ink. Cherish had already read the entire newspaper and was now pretending she had missed an important article and was sifting through it again. Sirius was unusually silent, staring sullenly out of the train window.

"Erm, Regulus?" Cherish piped up finally, when she could stand the silence no longer. "I was wondering...what house do you want to go into?"

Regulus fixed her with those grey eyes, they burned like liquid mercury, so different from the warmth she was used to. His thin lips turned up into a slight smile. "Slytherin."

"Oh," Cherish smiled slightly in a polite manner. "Do you have friends there?"

Regulus shrugged, seeming to relax a bit. He was watching Peter's queen drag one of James's broken pawns off the board. "I dunno. I've got some family though," he added coolly.

"Well, I wish you the best," Cherish replied after a moment. Perhaps the etiquette lessons her mother had insisted on when she was young were worth it after all.

"You know," Regulus said after James had won, "I think I'll go visit some of our family." He stood up, turning sharply to open the door and pausing to look back at his brother. "You coming?"

Cherish nudged him and Sirius jumped slightly then shook his head. "Nah, you go," he tore his gaze from the countryside long enough to glance at his brother's retreating back. Regulus turned on his heel and left, head raise high and ignoring any odd glances he got.

The moment he'd vanishes from sight, Sirius jumped off his seat to grab a deck of famous Quiddtich player cards. James joined him while Peter listened to the two intently. Cherish rolled her eyes and thought she heard Remus snort quietly in amusement.

"When does the lunch trolley come by?" she asked as she flipped the prophet to the back page and searched out a quill.

"About now," Remus replied, underlining a spell without looking up.

Cherish began to fill out the crossword puzzle, chewing on the end of her quill thoughtfully. "Which broomstick is the fastest?" she asked, lifting her quill over the blank boxes.

"Cleansweep 6," James answered automatically.

"Comet 250," Sirius countered at the same moment, flipping through his deck of cards without looking up at her.

"No way," James argued. "Comets are too slow speeding up, Cleansweeps gain speed in a shorter amount of time."

Sirius opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by the witch pulling open the compartment. "Anything off the trolley?" she asked kindly.

Remus and Peter exchanged relieved glances that an argument had been avoided.

Cherish reached for her money pouch, "I'll take some Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and," she paused to look in at the card, "Licorice Wands if you have them." She handed over several sickles and two knuts.

Remus took Pumpkin Pasties and a large box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. He paid a few silver sickles for the lot.

James, Sirius and Peter all followed her lead and gathered around the trolley to take their likings, there was the sound of money and James dumped the lot into a seat.

He tossed ice cold pumpkin juice to each of them. Cherish munched on her Cauldron cake, filling in a blank with the word chimera and tapped her quill against the Prophet.

"So I expect your brother doesn't like us," James said as he pulled open one of his boxes of Every Flavor Beans.

"Doesn't like me much either," Sirius said truthfully. "Don't take offense to it. He's been like this all summer."

"When are Quidditch tryouts?" James asked, studying a dark red bean carefully before nibbling one end of it. He deemed it good and popped the rest of the bean in his mouth.

"Probably the third or fourth week in," Remus replied over the top of his book, startling all of them. As far as they knew, Remus was no fan of Quidditch. "Check the notice board," he said not noticing their stares.

"Good, that gives me a few weeks to get the feel of it before tryouts," Sirius and James both seemed equally pleased at the prospect.

Cherish had just pulled her quill from her mouth to write another answer, when the compartment door slid open. In the doorway stood a pale, older boy with white-blonde hair and cold grey eyes. He bore Slytherin's crest on a shiny badge on his chest. His pale eyes glinted as he took in the younger students.

"Who are you?" James asked, looking rather annoyed at the intrusion but managing to come across as only slightly unkind.

"Temper, temper," the boy's lips turned into a twisted smile, "Sirius, surely you didn't forget to mention me to your little friends." James bristled slightly at being called little. "I daresay they would be quite surprised."

Sirius had remained fairly composed but he still gritted his teeth rather viciously before replying. "It must have...slipped my mind," he said coldly, "This is Lucius Malfoy."

James snorted in a rude way. His hazel eyes were already narrowing at Malfoy.

"Well, I see your...friend here," Malfoy indicated James, "was never taught proper manners." Malfoy moved his hand toward the pocket of his cloak that undoubtedly held his wand. He paused and then his eyes widened in mock surprise. "Surely not."

"What?" Peter interjected sharply, despite the fear in his eyes he stared at Malfoy without backing down.

Malfoy barely spared him a glance. "You're one of the Potters," Malfoy said in a disgusted tone. "Blood traitors, all of them. You and your father-"

James made to charge at Malfoy, but Remus and Cherish who had seen it coming lunged forward to hold him back. They forced him to stand back, fighting against him to keep him from jumping on Malfoy.

"You mustn't," Cherish hissed in his ear. "He's a prefect," the warning seemed to stall his anger for a few seconds. She saw James's eyes dart to the shiny prefect's badge to her again.

"And I believe this is Miss Meadowes," Malfoy's lip curled slightly. "At least her blood is pure, Black," he directed it at Sirius even though he was staring at her.

A chill of fear ran down her spine, she tilted her head up to meet his burning gaze. "Unlike some," he continued, his gaze flickering to Remus and Peter in turn.

"Lay off, Malfoy," Sirius spat angrily, his voice colder than she'd ever heard it.

"I suppose it's a good thing they have you backing them," Malfoy sneered softly. He turned on his heel to walk out the door and then paused. "I've heard your brother prefers our company, not filthy scum like them," he jerked his head towards Peter and Remus again. He glared at them, his gaze lingering on Cherish for a moment and then he was gone.

James yanked himself from Remus and Cherish's grip quickly, seething. "You should have let me at him, I could have taken him," he said mutinously.

"And send you to the hospital wing in bloody pieces?" Cherish shot back heatedly. "I don't think so."

James threw her a rather forbidding look but his hate was directed at Malfoy, not her. She could tell that he knew she was right, Malfoy was a Sixth year. He was significantly taller than James and Sirius, he had his horde of friends to back him, and he probably knew a good deal more magic than a couple of Second years.

"Cher is right, James," Remus put in gently as he stepped back and sat down.

Sirius was back to glaring out the window. "He's engaged to my cousin, Narcissa." The words were sharp and bitter, lingering in the air for several seconds after.

"So," Peter said in a blind attempt to break the tension. "What about Glynnis Griffiths?" He picked up the card that showed the young girl, looking from Sirius to James.

"She was a Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies," James replied after a moment.

"The Holyhead Harpies," Cherish repeated after a moment. "I think we saw them play once."

"They're amazing, one of the best all-girl teams," Sirius said enthusiastically, ripping open a Pumpkin Pasty.

James and Sirius were talking in low, hushed voices, Sirius making furious gestures in the direction of the Slytherin table. Peter was drumming his fingers on the table, glancing at the golden plates to reaffirm that they were still empty, then looking up at the Headmaster. Remus was looking intently at the High table, eyes never wavering.

Cherish tried to watch the first years being sorted but her eyes were drawn to Sirius and James. James whispered conspiratorially, "A well-aimed jinx could drop something right on them, they'd never suspect a thing."

When Regulus Black's name was called, Cherish snapped her attention back to the front. Professor McGonagall was holding the Sorting Hat aloft, waiting with the same indifference as usual. Regulus held himself in a regal, composed way that so resembled Sirius. He strode forward in an almost strut, head raised, chest puffed out proudly as he approached the Professor.

He sat himself down on the stool and his eyes flickered towards the Slytherin table. There was dead silence.

You would do well in Gryffindor his brow furrowed for a moment and then he thought desperately, but I don't want to go there, it would shame my family. I belong in Slytherin.

More silence and then finally, a quiet response Very well, if that is what you wish.

"SLYTHERIN!" Regulus Black jumped out of the stool as though burned, giving the hat an almost hateful glare before he walked towards the Slytherin table. Cheers erupted, up at the High table, Professor Slughorn looked particularly pleased to have Regulus in his house.

Regulus tossed one fleeting glance towards his brother, then walked to where Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Adrian Charleston, Mulciber and Avery were sitting. He was greeted by Lucius Malfoy who was grinning broadly and shook his hand proudly.

Cherish chanced a glance at Sirius who met her eyes and gave a tiny shrug. His face was set, his jaw like stone and the expression in his eyes was unreadable.

James shrugged as well then continued his plan for pulling a prank on the Slytherins.

When at last the final, small blonde boy ran to join Ravenclaw, Professor Dumbledore rose to speak.

"Ah, I would love to welcome faces, new and old. I am pleased to tell you I have found a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Chandler," he motioned to a small woman who stood to the polite applause. Nobody seemed overly thrilled, she didn't seem like she would be bad either.

Cherish clapped, more out of politeness than anything else. Remus exchanged a glance with her, Sirius and James hadn't taken any notice of their newest teacher. Peter merely glanced at the teacher and then back at his plate.

"And I must tell you that Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has a new list of banned objects that can be seen posted on his office door. I must also remind you to stay away from the Whomping Willow, it is very violent and will probably take a limb or two. Remember, no spell casting in the hallways, please. Now I believe I have nothing further, let's dig in," he spread his arms and food appeared on the golden plates.

Sirius immediately began to fill his plate with everything within reach, a bit of steak, some ham, two legs of chicken and he reached across Peter for the gravy boat.

Cherish was beginning to cut up her own steak when Sir Nicholas glided past. He gave her a small wave, then floated by to greet the new first years.

Warm, happily full and swirling the last dregs of their remaining dessert in their bowls they all began to feel rather drowsy. Cherish had just stifled a yawn when Professor Dumbledore rose once again.

"Now that you are all well fed and watered, off to bed," he announced. The Prefects from each house were let past with the groups of first years following them.

James and Sirius exchanged grins as they shuffled past the Slytherins on their way out of the hall. Someone gave a shriek as Peeves threw a water balloon at them, the girl ran past, soaked through and furiously shouting at Peeves.

Cherish rolled her eyes, dodged past Peeves and caught up with a couple of girls from her dormitory. Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Mary Macdonald and Alice Lindel were all grouped together, waiting on one of the landings for a shifting staircase.

"Cherish!" Alice exclaimed, breaking off her conversation to throw her arms around the stunned girl. "How was your summer?"

Cherish smiled. "Oh, it was lovely. What about you?"

"It was rather boring, but I got to see Mary before she headed off to France, and Lily a few times. I didn't get to see you though," Alice said wistfully, "I have pictures of my new cat though."

Lily urged them to hurry as the staircase shifted back. "Hurry up, there's already a crowd," she said as they raced up the last few stairs.

Indeed, there was already a large crowd forming around the portrait of the Fat Lady. She had stopped trying to ask the password and merely held herself open, one boy had gotten his leg stuck and was now being freed by two exasperated Prefects.

"The password is 'Kappa' the girl Prefect announced again for the students who hadn't heard her before.

"What is a kappa?" Marlene asked as they joined the line waiting to get in. Now that the boy had gotten unstuck the students were moving much faster.

"I think they live in water and they drown people who get lost," Lily wrinkled her nose. "They're just legends to muggles, you know?"

"No!" Mary gasped, "Muggles really don't know much, do they?" she shot an apologetic glance at Lily whose parents were both muggles.

"They sound about as nice as kelpies," Cherish said as they reached the portrait hole at last and climbed through. "The kappas I mean," she added hastily when Lily opened her mouth to object.

"What is a kelpie?" Mary asked as they made their way through the horde of people to the girls' dormitories.

"A water horse," Cherish told them. "They pull people underwater and drown them. They can shape shift to disguise themselves from muggles. I think they eat people."

"Which one is ours?" Lily asked as they climbed the second staircase. The first landing had a door with the words: First Years written on it so they had continued on.

"It must be the next level," Cherish panted as they ran up the stairs. Her legs ached from already walking up to Gryffindor tower. They all breathed sighs of relief as the next level had a door whose sign read: Second Years.

Cherish opened the door to a dormitory much like their one last year. It was still a deep scarlet, with the beds all arranged in a circle, trunks at the end of each bed. Cherish found her bed, located a pair of pajamas and went to change while the other girls all flopped onto their beds, too tired to get up again.

Once she was dressed, she returned to try to find her toothbrush. She was digging through her bag of toiletries when Lily finally spoke up from where she was now sitting up on her bed.

"So, guess what?" Marlene asked, her lips already turning into a smile as she sat up.

"What?" Lily asked. Cherish pulled out her mint toothpaste, then dug back in her bag for her toothbrush.

"I've got a pen pal over the summer," she said with a smile that suggested they were not just pen pals.

"Who?" Cherish asked, finally managing to extract her toothbrush and toothpaste.

"Chase Stevens," Marlene said in a matter-of-fact tone. "He's in Ravenclaw," she added noticing Cherish's confused expression. Cherish shrugged and popped back into the bathroom to run her toothbrush under water and squirt toothpaste on it.

"Are you going out?" Mary asked, her head in her own trunk as she tried to locate something lost within it. Marlene nodded, then realized Mary couldn't see her and said, "Yes."

"Have any of you seen my brass telescope?" Mary asked, her voice muffled by the trunk.

"It's right there," Cherish pulled her toothbrush from her mouth long enough to say, pointing to the left of Mary, a few feet from the girl's shoes.

Cherish finished brushing her teeth, spit in the sink and rinsed her toothbrush. She ran out, jumped onto her bed and sat cross-legged, pulling out a rather interesting book by Shakespeare, listening to the other girls' conversation at the same time. It didn't take long for her to realize that 'going out' meant that Marlene and Chase were dating.

"How did it happen?" Lily asked, pulling out her hairbrush to continue her usual routine of brushing her hair a hundred times before she fell asleep. She told the other girls it would make their hair sleek and shiny.

"Well, he's always been nice to me. He's got an adorable smile, don't you think?" she said dreamily, smiling at the other girls.

Lily, Mary and Marlene nodded intently. Cherish couldn't remember ever seeing Chase smile before. She'd seen him stuff his face at the feast plenty of times, shove kippers in his friend's face on purpose, but smile? She'd never see him smile and didn't quite see how a smile could be adorable, as Marlene put it.

"Well he just asked me a few weeks before school started up again. So we went to Diagon Alley together with our parents of course, he really made a good impression on my parents and his parents got along really well with mine. We got our books together and everything. It was really sweet, you know?"

Cherish didn't lift her head from her book. She couldn't quite see how that made a boy sweet. In her opinion, that didn't make James, Sirius, Remus or Peter sweet at all. They were simply her best friends.

* * *

_Please review!_


	7. Suspicions Rising

**Marauder Memories**

**Chapter Seven: Suspicions Rising**

* * *

Cherish awoke with a start, staring wildly around her in fright. She jumped out of bed, looking out to the grounds. It was early from the looks of the grey sky and mist above the grounds, the golden rays of sunlight hadn't broken through the foggy air yet.

She glanced at the clock, the minute hand and the hour hand on display told her that it was barely half past seven. She groaned and tried to crawl back under the covers but she couldn't sleep.

With an irritated sigh she clambered out of bed to pull on her muggle attire. It was Saturday, the third week in September, the day of the Quidditch tryouts as James constantly reminded her. If by any chance she did forget she had Sirius to tell her almost daily.

She pulled on her jeans and plain t-shirt, giving an annoyed sigh as she twisted her hair into a ponytail. Lily was sitting up on her own bed, her quill moving furiously across a piece of parchment.

She looked up at Cherish as she signed off her letter and set it out to dry. "Where are you headed so early?"

Cherish had vanished into their shared wardrobe, pulling it open and hunting for her navy blue cloak. "The Quidditch Pitch, the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts are today, remember?" Cherish pulled her head out of the wardrobe and spotted the cloak on her trunk.

"Do you want to come?" she asked, holding the cloak in one arm. She knew that Lily, being muggleborn, had never really understood the Wizarding World's love of the sport.

Surprisingly, Lily looked up from her bed and nodded. "Sure, let me grab my cloak and then we can head down to breakfast."

Cherish gave a hesitant smile. She had never really bonded with any of the girls in her dorm, despite their attempts to drag her into a conversation or studying with them. But everyone liked Lily, except perhaps the Slytherins.

"I thought you hated Quidditch," Cherish commented, watching Lily search for her black cloak. When she finally found it they headed down to the common room. This early in the morning, only a few especially studious students were there.

Lily shrugged. "I don't mind it, I'm just not very fond of it. Why do you like the sport so much?"

Cherish chewed on a fingernail then quickly pulled it from her mouth. She wouldn't let that become a habit. "I've grown up watching it and going to a few matches with my parents. I guess it's sort of like football to muggles."

Lily's eyes brightened. "I like football very much. My dad used to take me to games."

Cherish found a seat at the already busy table. She took a stack of toast and began to spread marmalade, butter or jam on the toast. "I've never seen a game of football," she admitted.

Lily gave her a stunned look. "Never?" she nearly dropped the jam jar that she was holding sideways. They wrapped their toast in napkins, keeping it warm with a nifty heating charm that Lily cast, and they walked towards the Quidditch Pitch.

"Who is that?" Lily asked, motioning to the shouting boy in the middle of the crowd of Gryffindors. The boy had dark hair, he was standing tall with the Captain's badge gleaming on his chest.

"Jace," Cherish said taking a bite of toast and looking for a seat.

"Who?" Lily threw her a look of confusion.

"The Captain," Cherish corrected herself quickly.

The Captain was shouting, trying to make himself heard over the noise. He was dividing them up into groups and asking them to fly around the pitch. There were only five groups, Cherish noted silently.

"I thought you wanted to try out," Lily said as she looked at Violet who was deep in conversation with James.

"I did," Cherish responded. "I wouldn't have made a good Chaser, not a fair Beater, and I expect that their current Seeker is a good bit better than I would be. I wouldn't want to be Keeper."

"You would have been good," Lily said shortly.

The Beaters tried out first, carrying their short bats and fastening on their protective gloves. One of the beaters on the old team managed to hit the bludger twice before he was unseated by the black ball and fell several feet to the ground.

The Captain looked rather disappointed, but scrawled something on his clipboard before calling the next person up. "Black, Sirius." Sirius strode out, looking rather tense although he seemed like he knew what he was doing.

He held his bat in the same fashion as the others, when the bludger tried to break his nose he swung hard and sent the bludger spiraling away. Twice, he managed to prevent the bludger from breaking his broom and he hit the Captain with a sharp blow that knocked Jace over.

"Oh no," Lily exclaimed fearfully, when Jace did not immediately find his feet. "He's been knocked out."

"No, he's all right," Cherish assured her as Violet raced forward to help the Captain up. He was shaking his head dazedly but seemed like he was fine.

When Sirius landed, he spoke briefly with the Captain, nodded and then headed to the stands where Lily and Cherish sat. He took the spot on Cherish's left, stealing two slices of toast without asking.

"Where's Remus and Peter?" Cherish asked as the next hopeful flew into the air.

"Peter's further up," Sirius gestured several rows above them where Peter flashed a grin, gave them a thumbs up and went back to watching the next tryout. "He brought some bacon earlier. Remus was looking a bit ill so we let him stay behind."

"Is it a head cold?" Lily asked, concern evident in her voice. Sirius shrugged, his mouth full of toast.

They all winced, Lily actually let out a yelp, as there was the tell-tale sound of a bludger racing towards someone and then the sickening thud that meant it found its mark. There was a howl of pain, the boy slid sideways off his broom and fell ten feet to the ground and did not move.

Lily made to get up, Cherish pulled her back, shaking her head. "Jace has got it under control," she warned. The boy was sitting up at least, his nose looked broken, it was hard to discern through the flow of blood, but they heard the Captain speaking loudly to the boy.

"Off to Madame Pomfrey with you," the Captain gave a wane smile. "No, it won't even be noticable, she can mend bones in a heartbeat. Yes, I'm afraid you probably won't make the team this year. Better luck next year though," he said cheerfully and then quickly asked a different boy to escort the broken-nosed boy to the hospital wing.

"Sirius!" Cherish gasped, turning to stare wide-eyed at him. "What if that happens to you?"

Sirius shrugged, not looking at all concerned. "It's bound to happen sometime, Cher."

She was not comforted by the nickname, maintaining her horrified expression.

"He looks awful," Lily put in, gazing at the boy who was walking away not seeming fazed at all.

Jace was now shouting furiously. "If you are a first-year, please leave! Now!"

There was a stunned silence, then a couple of boys threw down their broomsticks and stormed towards the stands to join the bystanders, grinning widely as they did so.

"I hope he'll be okay," Cherish said, indicating the broken-nosed boy who was nearly to the castle now.

"Of course he will," said a mild voice behind her. She whirled around to see Remus looking worn and tired. He too helped himself to a slice of her toast.

She gave him an annoyed glare which he ignored. She then turned back to watch the next person's trial. He was a young third-year, barely clinging to his broom and merely swinging wildly whenever he thought the bludger was near him.

She could see the Captain shouting at him to land, clearly worried for the young boy's life. The boy was too busy swinging his bat at the oncoming bludger to heed Jace's instructions.

Sirius frowned, "He's going to end up falling off at this rate."

The boy took a wild swipe at the bludger, toppling off his broom when he leaned too far. The Captain whipped out his wand and muttered a spell that cushioned the boy's fall, then he was standing over the boy shouting until he was red in the face.

Cherish stood up, meandering over to where the Chasers were waiting their turn on the tryouts. James looked up, throwing her a grin and motioning her over. She sat down, offering him toast which he accepted gratefully. "Thanks, you're the best."

Cherish rolled her eyes. "I think they're calling the chasers next," she said quietly as Jace finished yelling at the boy and dismissed him.

Jace walked over, eyes on his clipboard as he tallied points for his Beaters. He finally looked up to instruct his Chasers and froze, eyes on Cherish. "Oh, Cherish...are you trying out?" he sounded surprised, quickly scanning the tryout sheet.

"No, erm, moral support," she said scrambling up quickly. "Sorry, Jace."

His annoyance seemed to melt at her apology and he nodded, making another mark on his parchment. He finished his assessment of the Beaters and looked up at the stands. "Sirius Black," he called loudly.

Sirius stood up and ran down the stands, stopping in front of the Captain who stuck out his hand. "Congratulations, you made the team. You had a nice trial, I'm impressed."

James exchanged grins with Sirius before Jace turned to his Chasers.

"Nice job, Sirius," Lily said with a slight smile.

Sirius looked startled but nodded respectfully to her. "Not as bad as you thought, eh, Evans?" Lily rolled her eyes in answer and turned to watch Jace instruct his next set of hopefuls.

"All right, your job is to put the Quaffle through the hoops at the end, if you can, in the few minutes I give you. When I blow my whistle take off, and when I blow it sharply twice your trial is over. Try not to fall off," he stared at them all and cracked a grin.

"I don't want to send anyone else to the hospital wing. Potter, you're up first," he nodded to James.

James crammed the last bite of toast in his mouth and mounted his broom. At Jace's whistle he took off, promptly managing to score a good thirteen goals before Jace called him back down.

Jace tallied scores as the Chasers did their tryouts, finishing up their scores and then slowly checking them off. Nearly all of the Chasers' tryouts were good, not all of them brilliant, but most made at least three goals.

As Jace motioned the fourth hopeful to the ground, he made a check on his parchment and then turned back to the group.

"Jane Louis," he read off loudly. The girl who stood up was a Sixth year, like Jace, with long dark curls and deep blue eyes. She smiled and mounted her broom. Her looks were not for nothing, she scored fifteen goals before Jace blew his whistle.

Sirius was the new Beater, Jace being the Captain and Beater did not change. James was joined by Violet and Jane Louis as the team's Chasers. The Keeper was Jhonas, a Seventh year who had tried out last year and failed. The Seeker was the same, a fifth year who looked rather skinny but had a good trial.

* * *

James and Sirius were forced to stay behind so Lily, Remus and Cherish all walked back together. Peter had not moved from where he was, cheering Sirius and James on even though it was only a practice.

Remus vanished up to his dorm, claiming he felt sick and he looked it too. Cherish and Lily both told him they would see him later as they headed to the Great Hall.

Cherish sat down even though it was too early for lunch. "So why is Marlene dating Chase anyhow? Isn't it a bit soon?" Cherish asked curiously, watching as Chase walked past with Marlene.

"He seems all right, he's nice," Lily remarked with a smile. "Just because they're dating doesn't mean much. It's not necessarily soon, I don't think it's serious yet."

Lily was right. Marlene still talked with Mary, Alice and Lily. She still smiled at Cherish in the corridors between classes and was always willing to help Cherish with homework.

Chase would walk over to their table to say hello at the end of meals, walked Marlene to a few shared classes, held hands with her sometimes in the halls and at the end of meals when he would sort of smile and half wave to her, she would sort of smile back.

Cherish gnawed on her lip thoughtfully. "How long do you think they'll go out?" she asked, wondering how long people were supposed to go out.

"He's into long term relationships, don't worry," Alice said as she sat down next to Lily. "Didn't he go out with that other girl for a whole month?"

Cherish crinkled her nose but said nothing. To her, a month seemed like nothing, but who was she to judge?

* * *

Now, whenever she felt that the whole Chase and Marlene conversation was coming up, she would quickly turn to James and ask him a different question.

It was Thursday, he had just returned from Quidditch practice with Sirius and the pair were bent over their homework. It was unusual, they usually didn't complete assignments until minutes before they were due. According to Peter they were falling behind because of Quidditch. Peter was sitting in a chair across from them, speaking in a hushed voice.

Cherish sat down, hoping that she could help them out when she caught a bit of their conversation.

"But he was sick a few weeks ago," Peter was objecting, frowning at the other two,"he might be up to something."

"Well, he's sick again," Sirius said absently, reaching over to pull James's essay closer to him so he could see it better.

James tried to pull it back and then gave up, shrugging and finishing another question McGonagall assigned them. "So, don't you think it's a bit odd?"

He noticed Cherish and nodded to her in acknowledgement.

"It's not really," she defended quickly, catching onto who they were talking about. "Some people just fall ill more easily than others. Look, maybe he has a terrible immune system and he can't fight things off. You know, Daniel Grinberg is always sick too," she pointed out fairly.

"Maybe we ought to watch over him a bit more," Sirius said, motioning to the fruit bowl that sat beside Cherish.

She tossed him a bright red, shiny apple at his request and took a green one for herself. "Don't you think that would be dishonest?" Cherish asked, twisting the apple's stem off.

"Wouldn't it?" Peter added, twisting his robes in his lap, looking nervously from Sirius to Cherish.

"We're just trying to look out for him," Sirius pointed out.

"Maybe Cherish is right," Peter put in. "If he's got some kind of chronic disease, maybe he'll just tell us when he's ready."

"So," Cherish said quickly, cutting across the rest of Peter's theories, "What do you think of Professor Chandler?" Their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was a short woman who had already taught them a lot. She had been teaching them about ghouls, which seemed gross to many of the girls, but fascinated the boys in the class.

Professor Chandler had also introduces them to different shielding spells, a few helpful spells that weren't in the textbook and she didn't assign as much homework as the other teachers (at least in Cherish's opinion.)

"She might actually last all year," Sirius stated as he took a large bite of apple.

"The job isn't really jinxed, that Sixth year was just making it up," Cherish said with a roll of her eyes.

The three boys all stared at her. She cleared her throat. "It's normal for teachers to retire, the other one ran off with a vampire according to the Sixth year," she recalled. "He was either making it up, or it really did happen. In which case, I don't think the Professor was really sane enough to teach."

"No one knows how the rumor got started," Peter said timidly, looking around at the others. "Is it really true?"

"Nah, it's just rubbish," James said coolly, running his hand through his hair. Peter visibly relaxed but Cherish thought she glimpsed James give Sirius a rather pointed look over Peter's head.

* * *

Cherish glanced at James as she saw a couple of Slytherins moving from their table to where the Gryffindors sat. Lucius Malfoy was in the lead, with Regulus Black and Severus Snape flanking him on either side.

She shot a warning look at Sirius. He met her eyes and bent over his chicken legs without making a fuss. James was studiously eating his own pile of chips and did not even glance up, though she saw from the narrowing of his eyes that he'd seen Snape.

"Come on, we're going to be late," James said, picking up a sandwich from the lunch table. Sirius and Peter leapt up to follow him, Cherish already stuffing her book into her bag and closing it as she hurried behind them.

"Since when has he cared about being late?" Peter muttered, falling behind to walk next to Cherish.

Cherish shrugged, grabbing a turkey sandwich for herself and a handful of chips. "Since when has he not retaliated against Snape?"

Peter gave a rueful half smile as they trotted to Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall looked startled that they weren't late for once, she rarely gave them detentions for it, not bothering and instead taking a points from Gryffindor. Not that it enticed them to improve their behavior any more than detentions would have. After all, James and Sirius were both some of her brightest students.

Lily sighed, replacing their fat white rat in front of her and Cherish again. She held her wand over it, tapped it three times and said, "Vera verto," in hopes that it would transform into a water goblet.

The rat seemed to grow and then morphed into a pearl-white water goblet. Lily however, did not seem satisfied. "Is it supposed to be white?" she asked, prodding it with the tip of her wand.

Cherish shrugged, changed it back into a white rat, then tried it herself. "Vera verto," and the rat changed into a lovely, silver goblet with blue diamonds along the rim.

"Very good, Miss Meadowes, ten points to Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall gave her an approving look before moving to Sirius and James's table.

She looked at the pair expectantly. "Now, you try Mr. Potter," she instructed tapping the brown chicken.

James stared up at her, pulling out his wand and clearing his throat. One, two, three, "Vera verto," his bird changed into a feathery goblet, with a brown and white feather pattern. He picked it up, examining it carefully and shrinking under the Professor's stern gaze.

Despite herself, she had come to expect better from her top-student. She looked startled but then tutted, "Practice, Mr. Potter," she moved to Sirius and he managed a simple silver-plated goblet.

Lily wondered aloud if her own goblet was technically transformed since it was still white, while Cherish assured her it was and tried to catch up with Peter. He was scribbling down his homework-practice- onto a spare piece of parchment.

"What's with James?" she asked, waiting patiently for Peter.

"I dunno," he muttered, shoving a last book into his bag and walking down the hall with her. James was still unusually quiet, even through dinner, he did not participate in Peter and Sirius's plans to pull a prank on a couple of Slytherins.

He looked almost dejected, his voice hollow when he spoke up, "I'm going to visit Remus in the hospital wing."

When Sirius and Peter jumped up to follow him, he looked back at them and shook his head quickly, they looked rather put out as they sat down. Peter raised his eyebrows at Sirius who shrugged, looking confused as Cherish felt.

As soon as he turned away she gathered her bag, following him swiftly and chasing after him. She caught him on the third landing when he was forced to wait for the staircases to change.

"Go away," he told her rather rudely.

She felt a surge of anger rise up, biting back a retort she grabbed his arm, pulling him around and forcing him to face her. "Look, cut it out, James. Why are you acting like this?"

His gaze was stony as he looked at her. "Leave me alone."

Cherish sighed irritably. "I know you don't think Remus is being honest with you. I know it kills you, but stop acting so bitter to everyone. They're still here for you."

"Stay out of it, Cherish," he told her firmly, as his eyes met hers his gaze softened. "Please, Cher."

She lifted her head higher, meeting his gaze with courage. "I'm coming with you," she told him stubbornly.

He studied her for a moment then relented, "Fine. What do you think then?" he asked, climbing up the next staircase with her at his side.

She smiled a little sadly. "I don't know what to think. I just know that Remus is a good person. Whatever he's hiding, maybe we shouldn't be trying to find out what it is. Perhaps it's better if we don't know."

"That's what I'm worried about. But like you said, he could just be sick, right?" James asked in a grim yet hopeful sort of way.

"He is," Cherish replied with a confidence that she did not quite feel.

Madam Pomfery was most reluctant to allow them in, sending them both uncertain looks. "I'll ask him if he wants visitors," she told them shortly before closing the door.

She reappeared a minute later, looking utterly reluctant to open the door. "He needs rest," she told them sternly. "Fifteen minutes only," then left to her office, looking harassed.

Cherish approached cautiously, sitting on the end of Remus's bed. "What happened?" she gasped, taking in his appearance. He was pale, sickly looking which wasn't so unusual. He had a swollen jaw, a blue bruise was blossoming on one eye and the other stared at them in alarm. His right arm was in a splint, bound tightly with bandages and he shifted it when he noticed her gaze. He looked exhausted as though he'd been up all night.

"It's nothing," he said quickly, shifting away from her gaze only to wince.

"What did you do?" Cherish asked as her shock faded a bit.

"I fell down the stairs," he lied quickly, not quite meeting either of their eyes.

She raised one eyebrow. "Fell down the stairs?" she asked sharply. "And did what, slammed your eye into the rail?"

"I walked into a door," Remus snapped angrily, sitting up sharply and flinching. "I'm clumsy, what do you want from me?" He glared at them both accusingly, looking much like a wild dog that had been cornered.

Cherish gave him a long look, taking in the fading scraped along his arms that he now shoved hastily under the covers. His eyes appeared sunken in, despite the swelling bruise, and there were dark circles under both eyes.

His hands shook, with anger or effort she wasn't sure, as he reached for his water glass. James handed it to him, looking uncomfortable and uncertain as he did so.

"We just want to know what happened," James said slowly, looking rather affronted by Remus's behavior. "You look like you got run over by a herd of hippogriffs and you expect us to act like nothing happened?"

"I told you," Remus sounded weary now instead of angry, "I'm fine."

Cherish threw James a doubtful look that he returned. She cleared her throat and turned back to Remus. "Do you want us to bring you anything?"

Remus shrugged, plucking his bowl of thin soup off the tray by his bed. "Not really, I'm good. This isn't so bad," he added, seeing the look of distaste cross their faces.

"I should be back by tomorrow," he said after a moment of silence.

"I guess I'll come by later," Cherish promised, getting up and heading towards the door.

The moment it swung shut behind her, James whirled on Remus with an accusing glare. "What really happened?"

Remus shrank back under the furious glare, looking up at the ceiling as though it might offer an answer. "My mother," he replied tonelessly. "She's ill, I went home to be with her for a bit. I tripped down the stairs carrying her dinner tray."

"Okay," James kept his tone light but it was obvious he didn't believe Remus in the slightest. "Get better soon." He stood up, with the remaining nagging suspicion that Remus wasn't going to tell the truth.

He swung his bag onto his shoulder and followed Cherish out. His mind was swimming with ideas as he descended the stairs to the dark, damp dungeons for Potions.

Cherish looked up when he entered. The classroom was empty and she sat on her table, looking dismal and sullen. "I think Peter's right," she said quietly. "He must be up to something."

James sighed, not wanting to admit it himself. "I think you're right. But that doesn't make it right to research on him. That would make us terrible friends. He'll tell us when he's ready."

Cherish didn't respond, she barely even looked at him. The look that crossed her face was slightly exasperated but she didn't speak again. She knew he was fiercely loyal to his friends, he was going to refuse to accept that Remus was anything less than honest.

When Sirius arrived, she jumped up and skipped over to him, whispering her plan into his ear and then motioning to Peter. James watched the exchange warily, suspecting that they were going to investigate despite his attempts to thwart them.

Lily and Cherish made good potion partners, rarely doing anything wrong. Lily had a pure talent for potions, able to brew perfect potions and often times adding a few things to counter nasty side effects.

Cherish was just rereading the fourth line of instructions, adding a few mint sprigs to the potion then picking up her stirring stick, when something exploded.

Instinctively Lily ducked, pulling Cherish under the table with her, orange potion went flying everywhere, staining the walls and hitting various students.

The Slytherins were crouched under their tables as well, hands over their heads, a few splattered with the poisonous potion. Lily gave a little moan, "Our potion will explode too if you don't stir in the sprigs, Cherish!"

With a gasp, Cherish scrambled up and finished stirring, despite the fact that most of the students were cowering under their desks. She could just see Sirius's long hair and Peter's wide eyes peeking from behind James's own mop of messy hair.

"Now, now, everyone settle down," Slughorn said, siphoning the potion off of the walls with a wave of his wand. Anyone who had been hit by the potion made their way up to get a few drops of solution on their injuries.

Several of the students had large, painful boils breaking out all down their arms where they'd thrown their arms up to protect their faces, while others had been hit full on by the potion.

"Sorry," mumbled one boy meekly, his own hands covered in boils. His own cauldron was empty, leaving no doubt as to whose potion had been the exploding one.

"Finish your potions ladies and gentlemen, then please mark a phial of it and leave it on my desk for grading," Slughorn instructed as he dabbed solution onto one girl's arm.

"As for you, Mr. Dansforth," he gave the young boy an exasperated look. "Please see me after class."

When the dinner bell rang, the students leapt up eager for supper, quickly marking phials and filling out with half-hearted goodbyes and calling to other classmates to hurry up.

As Cherish was making her way up the stairs to Gryffindor tower, a third year boy suddenly ran into her on the stairs, not even bothering to apologize or even acknowledge her.

She stumbled, fell to the ground and dropped her bookbag. A seam ripped and the books spilled out all over the stairs. The boy's friend quickly stopped and fell to his knees and began to gather up the books.

"Oh, I can get that," Cherish told him, pulling herself up and beginning to stack the books so she could carry them.

He shook his head, repairing her back with a muttered, "Reparo," and handing it back along with several books.

"Thank you," Cherish said rather coldly, piling books into her bag.

Possibly sensing her disapproval, he stood up and shuffled his feet nervously. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. I'm Eric by the way," he held his hand out to her.

She pulled herself up with the railing, shaking his hand. "Cherish," she replied, kinder this time. "Thanks again."

"No problem, see you around," he turned and ran off down the stairs.

Cherish hurriedly shoved the rest of her parchment into her bag and raced up the stairs, throwing her things on her bed so she could head down to supper.

Peter was the only one there, looking rather lonely until he spotted Cherish and motioned her over. She dropped into the seat across him and watched as he piled his baked potato with toppings.

She herself plucked a warm roll from a basket and began buttering it. "Where are they?" she asked nodding to James and Sirius's empty seats.

"Detention," Peter replied. When he noticed her frown he elaborated, "They decided to hex Snape to er, they tried to give him a shower I think," his brow furrowed in confusion. "Anyhow, they flooded the boy's bathroom in the process and got soap suds all over the fifth corridor. Professor McGonagall has them cleaning it now."

Cherish shook her head in an annoyed sort of way. "When can we start our investigation?"

"Tonight," Peter answered quickly. "We miss him every few weeks, he's always gone because he's sick, or his mum is sick," Peter said in a low voice.

"So maybe it is true," Cherish said loyally. "He is just sick."

"But he's gone an awful lot, even if his mum or he was really sick," Peter murmured. "Will you help?"

Cherish hesitated. "I suppose I should," she doled casserole onto her plate, looking up at Peter's stunned expression. "I want to know the answer, Peter. Besides, he's my friend too," she reminded him.


	8. Dig A Little Deeper

**Marauder Memories**

**Chapter Eight: Dig A Little Deeper**

**A huge thanks to my betas **Like Stars in the Sky and SiriusBlackIsAwesome.

* * *

Cherish lay, half curled in a cozy armchair in front of the fire an almost-completed essay in her lap, an ink pot balanced carefully on the small table beside her, her eagle-quill in one hand.

Lily sat opposite her in a similar armchair with a heavy textbook in her arms, scribbling down notes in the margins and underlining what she deemed might be important later on.

"Lily? Do you think you could help me?" Cherish asked sitting up a little straighter as she motioned to her Potion's essay.

Lily looked up. "I suppose...what is it about?"

"Properties of milkweed," Cherish grumbled with an exaggerated sigh.

"Just write something about the color of the plant, how to identify it, where it is found, and then what the juices do in potions, and give an example of a potion it's used in," Lily ticked them off on her fingers.

"I did," Cherish said, looking at her essay and adding a few sentences. "It still isn't the twelve inches that Slughorn asked for."

Lily held her hand out and then looked closely at the essay. "Just add a good description of its discovery," she suggested after a moment.

Cherish had just finished her last sentence when she heard her name called. She looked up to see Peter motioning frantically toward himself, then at the back of the Portrait hole, and back at her expectantly.

She began to gather her bag, shoving books unceremoniously into it as she rose to follow Peter. He was eating a leftover pastry from dinner, his fingers coated in chocolate.

Cherish hoped he finished his pastry before they got to the library. Madam Rycrest was an aging librarian; she was very kind and helpful when students couldn't find books, always willing to overlook smaller things. She was not at all strict, often times letting Cherish check out more books than was allowed, but she was strict with her no food in the library rule. It was one of the only rules that she actually enforced.

"James and Sirius just finished practice, they're grabbing some dinner and a shower and then they'll meet us," Peter said, cramming the last of the pastry in his mouth as they turned the corridor to where the library was.

Cherish paused a moment to let the boy swallow his food and then they found a table. He began to rummage in his pockets; hopefully he wasn't looking for another cake.

Peter pulled out a wrinkled, rather battered piece of parchment from his cloak pocket. "This is what we have so far," he told her as he slid the parchment over to her.

She looked down at the parchment to see odd things scribbled down. There were dates, _October 31st, November 6th (last year), August 24th (this year) _and then there were various other things written such as: _mum was sick, gone to visit grandparents (urgent apparently), his dad got hurt in a muggle accident involving a carr. _

While she was reading the list, Peter roamed the shelves to pick out several volumes that he set before them. She reached for one, flipping it open and was just into the D section, about Dragon Pox, when Sirius and James made their arrival.

Sirius threw a heap of books onto the table, which gave an ominous little creak, and she looked up to see the titles _Medical Mysteries_, _From St. Mungo's Ward, Health Assessment, First Steps to Becoming a Healer, Healing at Home, Principles of Medicine, Genetics _and oddly enough _Animagus Transformations. _

Cherish left her own book open as she picked up the animagus book. "What is this for?" she asked.

"Hm?" Sirius glanced up from _Medical Mysteries _to gaze at the book in her hands. "Oh, that's not related. James and I were going to get it out for a bit of light reading."

"Light reading?" she asked doubtfully, flipping it open to see various creatures all categorized based on whether they were fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and then there were pictures. Several showed animals with descriptions of their defining characteristics. To her, they looked like ordinary animals, but as she looked closer at a tropical bird and noticed unusual markings described in the caption.

Sirius nodded. "We've been looking into it ever since McGonagall changed into a cat that one day."

She returned to her own book, flipping past a huge section to read about scrofungulus and spattergroit. She was just delving into a section about a particularly nasty form of vanishing sickness when James sat down on her other side.

"We've been taking notes since last year, when we wanted to find out what his mother was sick with," James said nodding to the parchment.

"Why would you care why his mum is sick though?" Cherish asked curiously.

"We were just intrigued as to why he would visit her so often," James replied. She raised an eyebrow, thinking that he was probably suspicious even then but refused to believe Remus was dishonest.

'Hm, it seems like a monthly sickness," Cherish commented as she glanced at the list.

James shrugged, plucking _Healing at Home _from the selection. "Or he just goes home to get treated every month. If it's a chronic condition that is." He set the book down and picked up a different one.

The next few weeks were like that. Cherish would meet the three boys in the library nearly every night. James and Sirius often-times brought their homework that they were behind on and they would all pour over old books together. Their readings ranged from genetic-based conditions to outrageous potion accidents.

Occasionally they would read a condition out loud for fun, James would ask a question to break the silence, Sirius would start a conversation about Quidditch practice or James would speculate if Remus was even ill.

"There was a nice full moon yesterday," Peter commented, now flipping through a book about curses.

"Hm," was the only response he received. Cherish was immersed in a book, reading a page about vampires.

James was now reading newspaper clippings, mostly about odd diseases that people died from. "Apparently this one is a killer," he said as he set aside one clipping.

"Let me see." Cherish pulled her gaze from the page to look. James glanced at the page which sported a ordinary man with black eyes, pale skin (though now that James looked closer, he realized the man seemed taller than most) with sharp fangs.

Sirius barely ever looked up since he had stared reading _Medical_ Mysteries,and he had already finished half of it. Cherish sighed irritably, flipped the page violently to a Veela and slammed the book shut. The page had a beautiful female veela with long silver hair and wide blue eyes. The other half of the page showed the transformed veela with a large bird head, a pair of scaly wings had erupted from her back, and claw-like hands. The image showed an angry, shrieking look on her face.

"You didn't want to read about the Yeti?" Peter joked. He had taken an interest in Cherish's book ever since she'd shown him what a kappa looked like.

Cherish snorted, rolling her eyes at the ceiling. "Peter, I don't think he's a yeti, believe it or not. I mean, really, does he look anything like a yeti?" She sighed, reopening the book and reading about the Wendigo. Wendigoes were thought to be a half-beast creature that was possibly a human who had simply reverted to cannibalism.

Wrinkling her nose, she flipped the page to read about the yeti just as Peter had said. "You know, I don't think we'll find it in these books," she said as she finished the book and slammed it closed.

"Sirius, pass me one of those medical books, will you?" She pointed to the tottering stack next to Sirius who was absorbed in his own medical book.

He pushed the pile towards her, and it took one last tremble and fell across the table, one book of them conveniently landing near enough for her to pick up. Sirius had shut his book by then, sitting with his chin on one loose fist and staring at the bookshelves.

"Well, you know," he began and she knew that she wasn't going to like it. "We haven't tried the restricted section yet," he pointed towards the bookshelves that were roped off and kept under Madam Rycrest's watchful eye at all times.

Peter looked up with wide eyes, but it was James whose eyes truly showed interest in the idea. "We could look," James said as he rose from his chair.

"Not now," Sirius hissed, pulling on James's arm quickly forcing him back down. "We'll sneak out after curfew."

James nodded, wandering through the rows of shelves in search of a new book. He pulled out a book, read the first few pages and put it back as he pulled out an older book.

"Well," Cherish said after a short silence, "what are the chances he's got a genetic disorder?" She held up _Genetics _with somewhat false enthusiasm as she examined the cover.

"We've got to get going on our homework," Peter stated as he glanced up at the clock. It was late, later than usual when they began their homework. He pulled out an essay that Cherish knew was due the very next day on Professor Slughorn's desk.

Sirius and James both begrudgingly pulled their own homework out. They were extremely reluctant, but both knew that they were days behind already and needed what little time they could spare to finish at all.

Cherish had opened the book, amusing herself with the interesting genetic disorders. Some were intriguing, while others simply looked painful and disturbing. James and Sirius both leaned their chairs back precariously, writing quickly to get the homework over with.

James let out a heavy sigh within the first minute, reading the black text that seemed to blur before his eyes. He paused, nibbling on the end of his quill when he noticed movement by a few bookcases.

Snape leaned casually against one pillar, his eyes set on the group. James leaned forward, watching the other boy with immense dislike. Cherish took one look at his face and mouthed a rather distinct _no _in his direction.

He glanced at Cherish and sighed, choosing not to rise, although he kept the other boy in view the entire time while he worked on his essay. Sirius and Peter were discussing tricky question number four on an assignment that McGonagall had given them.

"I'm almost certain that an animagus can choose what they want to be," Sirius was insisting, motioning to a section in his book. Professor McGonagall had impressed the whole class by turning herself into a pretty tabby cat and then back into herself. She had lectured them about animagus, then gave the entire class several questions to answer. They had pulled out all the books on animagus they could find.

She did assure them that they would go more in-depth about Animagus transformations next year, which had pleased the class greatly.

"No they don't," Peter was arguing, holding up his book and pointing to a section about the specific topic. "It's all based on inner characteristics apparently."

"I'd like to be an animagus one day," James said conversationally, rolling up his essay and stuffing it in his bag. "Running around as an animal would be fun."

"Maybe," interjected a new voice.

James quickly shoved one of the magical creature books into his bag. Sirius hastily shoved all the books across the table so they toppled onto the ground at Cherish's feet. She let out a startled yelp, jumping up and quickly slamming her own book shut and turning pink.

Remus leaned over, picking up the green leather book, reading the title aloud, "_Medical Mysteries._"

"Cherish wants to be a Healer," James invented wildly, pointing to the book. "Good read, eh?"

Cherish nodded eagerly, even as she flushed darker, trying to act as though this was entirely plausible. Remus glanced around at all of them, Sirius was currently shoving several books under the table with his toe, James was humming casually, and Peter wouldn't meet anyone's eye.

Remus looked skeptical, and not in an amused way. He walked towards the shelves to find an animagus book and then sat down at a different table, still giving them doubtful looks.

Cherish quickly snatched up the book and dipped farther behind it. Sirius was now picking up the books he had thrown on the floor, replacing them on the bookshelves while trying not to look overly suspicious.

"I don't like the library," Sirius grumbled as he plopped back down into his chair. "I'd rather be practicing Quidditch."

James nodded in agreement. He yawned tiredly, only to the catch the look on Cherish's face.

She frowned at both of them in turn. "You're the ones who wanted to investigate the entire thing. If you're done, so am I."

Although she didn't seem overly annoyed, both boys sensed the underlying threat.

"Come on," Sirius said, suddenly standing up. Both James and Cherish stared at him in confusion. Cherish hesitantly took his hand, trusting him.

"Where are we going?" she asked, glancing at the time. It was nearly eight thirty, very close to their curfew.

Sirius snatched up her bag, shoving a few books in it and carrying it with him. James dragged his own bag along, grinning as her caught on to what Sirius was doing.

"We're going somewhere secret," Sirius said in a conspiratorial voice.

Cherish's eyebrows rose slightly. She glanced from James to Sirius. "Secret?" James's eyes gleamed with excitement, Sirius pursed his lips and refused to say anything.

"Close your eyes," Sirius instructed. Cherish gave him a long look before she obeyed, closing her eyes and turning away from him.

James took the lead, motioning to Sirius to follow. He did, holding Cherish's hand in one of his and instructing her. "Down the stairs, I'll tell you when we get to the bottom," his voice said in her ear. After two flights of stairs he spun her around quickly, not allowing her to figure out in her head where they were.

Sirius laughed softly. "Stop trying, Cher."

She turned to tell him off, but then he was pulling her along down another flight of stairs and she closed her mouth. They went down another corridor, and then both boys stopped.

"Go on, James," Sirius hissed. Cherish heard a high pitched giggle and her eyes flew open, only to be met with darkness. Warm hands covered her eyes gently, Sirius laughed in her ear. "No peeking," he told her, amused. "Now, step up."

She hesitated, trying to find the step in the darkness. Sirius sighed then lifted her over the incline himself.

The hands disappeared, and she was met with an interesting view. There were high ceilings, large as the Great Hall, with five wooden tables all lines up just like the Great Hall. All along the walls were gleaming pots and pans hanging from racks and a large fireplace. Around the room were low countertops, all of them a pretty jade green. In addition, was a collection of various stoves, all of them clean and brand-new in appearance.

Crowded around the group were various house elves. All of them had the same bat ears, long noses, large blinking eyes, and they were all dressed in pretty tea cozies in various colors all adorned with the Hogwarts crest on the front. Most wore the tea cozy like a toga, while a few wore it as though it was a dress, with their arms through the spout hole and handle holes, and head where the top of the kettle would be.

James was grinning proudly, his arms out wide as though to show off the discovery. Sirius was smiling too, though a little sheepishly.

"Surprise," he told her quietly, and then she launched herself into James's arms and hugged him.

"This is amazing! How did you find it?" she babbled, whirling around to look at Sirius, looking very pleased. She looked around the wide kitchen, figuring that the tables were what brought food up to the Great Hall.

She hurried to the one that would be Gryffindor's table, looking around at them. The house elves did not seem surprised to see James or Sirius, but most stared at Cherish with wider eyes than usual.

"Who is you, miss?" prompted one of the elves, a curious one with blue eyes and a light pink tea cozy on. She smiled toothily, seeming rather sweet for a house elf.

"My name is Cherish," she told the elf kindly. "And what is your name?"

"Milly, miss," the elf said with a little curtsy. Then in a squeaky voice she asked, "We's able to make anything you is liking, miss."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to inconvenience-" she broke off looking at the two boys who were shaking their heads frantically at her.

"Tis not an inconvenience Miss Cherish," the elf went on happily. "What is you wanting today?"

Cherish sighed and gave in. "Perhaps some tea and tea cakes," she suggested, looking around at the house elves. "If it's not too much trouble that is."

"No trouble at all, Miss Cherish," said Milly politely before turning to the boys to ask what they wanted. Sirius ordered a few of his favorites while James asked for pastries.

Cherish took a seat at the table and turned to James. "So how did you find this place?" She looked at the elves who were now bustling around, looking quite pleased to wait on them, as they poured out tea leaves and placed a kettle on the fire.

"We were exploring the castle a few weeks back, and some paintings on the sixth floor told us a few secrets. Like this place. We've been waiting to share it with you for ages. Peter and Remus already know about it; they've come down a few times with us. We thought it was your turn," Sirius answered.

James grinned as four elves appeared, sporting a heavily laden tray of tea, cakes, pastries and an assortment of pies.

"Thank you," Cherish said, smiling at the elves who bowed low.

She sipped her tea, grimaced and quickly added two sugar cubes. "Much better," she declared as the tea was sweetened.

Sirius yawned loudly. "All that studying is hard work. No wonder James and I don't join you more often."

Cherish gave him a glare, and then softened it by rolling her eyes. "You should study more often."

"Why?" Sirius asked, shoving an entire tea cake in his mouth, barely able to get the words out around the cake. "I already pass."

"Because you're bloody brilliant," Cherish muttered and watched Sirius chew with his mouth open. "Without even trying."

* * *

They were in the common room, Sirius looking into the fire and James curled up on an armchair next to the table Cherish was working at. Suddenly, he sat up sharply, prodded Sirius awake and the pair looked over at Cherish.

She caught the exchange but said nothing, only smiled at them.

James stood up, only to sit in a chair across from Cherish. He shot Sirius a glance and then looked back at her. Sirius gave a slight nod and James nodded back.

James pulled out a thin, light blue folded up piece of paper out. Placing it on the table he drummed his fingers over it several times, shooting Sirius a glance that she recognized, and then he slid it slowly over to her.

_Death Eaters Following: The Call_

_We are those who believe in true blood purity. We are superior to mudbloods and half-bloods alike. We alone were born with the power to rule, to own magic. We must cleanse the world of any and all people using magic that is not pure like our own. We are the only true witches and wizards. _

James interrupted before she could read any farther. "It was founded by one wizard-Lord Voldemort they call him. His followers are growing; he's getting stronger. My dad says that the aurors are trying to hunt down these people, but it's nearly impossible."

Cherish looked up, horror growing in her wide green eyes already. "What is this?" she hissed.

"It's just..." James sighed. "My dad told me about it. It's been hushed up these past few years by the Ministry but dad thinks we ought to know. Sirius, you know what his family is like. He knew already of course. Managed to sneak a pamphlet-his mum and dad don't know he doesn't believe in it yet."

"Why did you give me this?" she asked, pushing her essay away.

"Because my dad reckons he's gaining more and more power, more followers," James said after a slight hesitation. "I'm worried, we're all purebloods so I reckon we'll be all right but..." he trailed off.

"But...Remus," she said in a harsh whisper. "Peter, they're not safe. They're not purebloods."

"It's all right," Sirius assured her quickly. "We aren't at war. It won't come to that anytime soon. We just wanted you to know...you've got to know."

"We're a couple of twelve year olds, Sirius," Cherish stated. "There's not much we can do."

Sirius hesitated. "Yeah, but if I didn't tell you..." his words drifted into nothing.

James put in, "Sirius is right. You would have been angry, and we don't want to hide things from you Cher, especially things like this."

* * *

"Have you noticed anything off lately?" Remus asked casually, sliding into a seat next to her.

"What do you mean?" Cherish asked, crossing out a misspelled word and propping open a dictionary.

"James and Sirius," he replied, trying to catch her eye. She lowered her gaze quickly to the dictionary, turned to the right page and corrected her misspelling.

"They're just busy with Quidditch practice," Cherish told him. "After all, they're gone nearly every night of the week."

It was true. Quidditch practice was almost every night of the week, and both Sirius and James never failed to turn up for practice. This however left them less and less time to catch up on their never-ending pile of homework. Any time that they weren't eating, in class or at practice they were found trying to catch up on already-late assignments.

They hadn't scraped up the time to pull a single prank in nearly an entire week. Any time that they had free, they spend pouring over the books in the library with Cherish.

Despite wanting to pull a prank, they were loyal to Cherish and knew they had to pull at least half of their weight in the investigation. Cherish tried to help them with their homework whenever she could, some assignments were better left forgotten, while others she helped them scrape a decent grade only minutes before it was due.

Remus seemed doubtful but he didn't press the matter. "What do you have on the second question?"

Cherish set aside her essay to pick up the questions-sheet. "This one?" she asked, holding it up. He nodded and she pushed the completed questions over to him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Is Miss Cherish Meadowes cheating?" he asked in a light, teasing tone.

Cherish laughed, "Not at all, Mr. Lupin," she mocked his tone easily. "I'm simply helping a friend on a question."

Remus looked at her for a moment and then shook his head fondly. "Just tell me which page it's on."

She leaned over, picking up their Transfiguration textbook and riffling through it quickly. She held it open to the page and passed it over to him. "Page...three...sixty two," she announced.

"I don't think they trust me," Remus said warily after a moment. He glanced up at her for confirmation.

Cherish smiled weakly. "They trust you Remus, I know they do."

He studied her for a long moment, took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Without hesitation she met his gaze and held it steadily. "How do you know?" he asked quietly, looking dejectedly down at the book.

"Because they care about you, Remus," she said softly, confidence in her voice. "They really do."

He was silent for a long while, staring at her as though he was trying to determine if she was being honest. "Cher?"

She looked up at him over the edge of the book. She tilted her head to one side slightly at though contemplating something rather deeply. "I trust you, Remus," she said softly, closing her book and the matter.


End file.
